Penalba, Santos cop masters plums

MANILA, Philippines - Pabs Penalba of host SLETBA and PBA’s Nelia Santos shared top honors in the 42nd Philippine International Open tenpin bowling championships by winning the men’s and women’s Senior Masters titles at the Sta. Lucia Mall Center in Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, Cainta, Rizal last Monday.

Carrying an eight-handicap, Penalba tallied a 10-game series of 2122 pinfalls to beat teammates Juncky Tabora and Mar Lualhati, both 16-handicappers who rolled 2099 and 2062, respectively.

Penalba started with a shaky 169 but he quickly bounced back to shoot 201, 210, 182, 268, 180, 221, 175, 213 and 223 the rest of the way.

Santos, also an eight-handicapper, submitted 1838 in 10 games to nip TBAM’s Dina Granada (1835) and PBA’s Lynn Tan (1825, in the women’s division.  Granada and Tan played with 16 and eight handicaps, respectively.

Like Penalba, Santos opened with a forgettable 146, but recovered to roll 178, 189, 181, 177, 185, 182, 159, 183 and 178 in the next nine games.

Penalba and Santos won a trophy each and P40,000 and P25,000, respectively.

Six-time world champion Paeng Nepomuceno also competed, but without any handicap, he managed to finish only 12th with a 10-game series of 1918.

Nikko Ko and her brother Jason, both carrying the SLETBA colors, emerged as new leaders Monday together with the MTBA team of William Ami, Benedict Antiporda and Francis de Leon.

Nikko Ko regained the Graded Masters qualifying lead with 1134, dislodging Dina Basuel (1118) and Bernadette Ipapo (1091), while Jason took the men’s Associate Masters top spot with 1228, finishing ahead of PBC Deputy Secretary General Boy de Leon (1218) and Dennis Gallardo (1198).

Upcoming bowler Benedict Antiporda, son of National Press Club president Benny Antiporda, Ami and De Leon combined for 1131 to pace the men’s Class B trios.  The MTBA squad dislodged SLETBA’s 1 and 2 teams, which tallied 1120 and 1073.

Malaysia’s national team arrived last night to compete in the tourney sanctioned by WTBA and ABF, organized by PBC in cooperation with Sta. Lucia Mall, Boysen Paints, POC, PSC and PCSO and supported by the University of Perpetual Help System, Richmonde Hotel Ortigas and the National Bowling Tour.