Junior bowler upstages vets, wrests lead

MANILA, Philippines – Junior bowler Kenneth Chua capped his three-game series with a 266 as he grabbed the lead in the men’s Class O singles with a 683 in the 38th RP International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at Paeng’s Midtown Bowl in Malate, Manila Sunday night.

The 17-year-old Chua, who scored a perfect game in last week’s eighth Asian School Bowling Championships in Hong Kong, opened up with lines of 191 and 226 before closing out with a bang to post a four-pin lead over TBAM-Prima teammate Jeff Chan, who made a 679.

ATBA-Timberpro’s RJ Bautista, who scored three perfect games in the MBA Open two weeks ago, had a 653 for third.

National team mainstay Apple Posadas shot lines of 199, 213 and 237 for a three-game series of 649 to wrest control in women’s Class O singles in the kegfest sponsored by the University of Perpetual Help System, Department of Tourism, Amway Philippines and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Posadas paced PBAP-Bowlmart teammates former RP bowler Cecilia Yap (550) and Singaporean Yap Seok Kim (546), herself a former member of the Singapore national squad.

In other early results, senior bowlers Audi Castro (369) and Steve Robles (396) pooled together 765 and gained the lead in the men’s Class O doubles, while the PBAP-Bowlmart duo of Kim (386) and Yap (289) had a 675 aggregate to lead the distaff side.