With only two gold medals set to be disputed in the masters Saturday and Sunday, chances for the RP bowlers to come up with a medal are slim based on their performances in the singles, doubles, trios, team of five and the all-events.
The men’s squad, who delivered one of the country’s three gold medals courtesy of Paeng Nepomuceno and RJ Bautista in the doubles in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, had near-misses in almost all the events but could just come up with a best finish of fifth in the doubles through Tyrone Ongpauco and Markwin Tee. Saudi Arabia took the gold.
CJ Suarez, Biboy Rivera and Tee placed sixth in the trios ruled by Malaysia; the five-man squad of CJ Suarez, Chester King, Nepomuceno, Rivera and Tee wound up eighth in the team event which Japan won; and Rivera, the reigning world champion, struggled to ninth place in the singles topped by Indonesia. Tee finished in 11th place in the all events ruled by Saudi Arabia.
The women’s team of Liza del Rosario, Irene Garcia, Daisy Posadas, Liza Clutario and Jojo Canare came in fifth in the team of five event which Malaysia won; Posadas and Clutario finished sixth in the doubles ruled by Singapore; Del Rosario, Posadas and Canare were seventh in the trios wherein Korea reigned anew; and Posadas wound up 13th in the all events topped by Korea.
Cecille Yap placed 22nd in the singles won by Malaysia.
The RP bets actually fared well in the early going of most of the events, even contending for the gold medal in a couple of them only to crack in crunchtime and tumble down when it mattered most.
"We need to re-assess our players and hope to come up with different strategies," said former World Cup champion Bong Coo, who took over as manager of the team only last February.
One of those could probably be the infusion of young blood in the squad with only Tee and Posadas considered as the only young players at 22 and 21, respectively, and the rest either in their late 20s and 30s.
Sure, experience remains to be a key factor in any sporting competition but the exuberance and the fire of the youth must also be considered.
"As much as possible we are aiming for stronger young bowlers," said Coo, who won the Asiad gold medal in all events and powered the team to victory in team of five in South Korea in 1986.
Coo also cited the need for the RP bowlers to cope up with the technology, saying: "In my days, we had no short or long oil terminologies and it was more difficult at that time. Nowadays, it is very high tech."
"Actually, my players have different levels of play but the most important thing is for them to stay focused in each game, be physically fit and have power," said Coo.
Otherwise, RP bowling might be heading to the gutter. — Dante Navarro