Bowling test event for SEA Games unfolds

MANILA, Philippines — The third Philippine International Bowling Open gets underway at the Coronado Lanes in StarMall EDSA this Saturday with over 400 participants, including at least 100 foreigners, competing in 12 divisions up to June 16, serving as a test event for the coming SEA Games. The divisions are open, graded, associate and senior for men and women, classified senior for men, boys open, girls open and junior.

Philippine Bowling Federation (PBF) secretary-general Bong Coo said yesterday nine foreign countries are confirmed to be represented in the Open, listing Australia with three entries, Malaysia 42, Singapore 24, India one, United Arab Emirates two, Hong Kong eight, Brunei nine, Bahrain three and Guam eight. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will likely join the cast.

In the SEA Games, nine gold medals are up for grabs in singles, doubles, masters and four-strong team for men and women and mixed doubles. Coo said the Philippine team will be composed of four men and four women. The performance of aspirants trying out for the national squad will be evaluated in the Philippine Open, the Singapore Open on June 16-30 and Hong Kong Open on July 15-20 before the final lineup for the SEA Games is decided.

The aspirants are Kenneth Chua, Frederick Ong, Raul Miranda, Merwin Tan, Kenzo Umali, Kayle Abad, Patrick Nuqui, Paolo Valdez and Enzo Hernandez for men and Liza del Rosario, Alexis Sy, Dyan Coronacion, Lara Posadas, Rachel Leon and Bea Hernandez for women. Tan, Umali, Abad and Muqui took the bronze in the boys’ team event at the 2018 World Youth Championships in Detroit. Men’s coach is Biboy Rivera and women’s coach is Jojo Canare.

Coo said after seven men and five women in the national pool were exposed to new techniques at the International Bowling Training and Research Center of the US Bowling Congress in Arlington, Texas, for a week recently, they came back with a high level of confidence because of what they learned. Coo said PBF chairman Sen. Tito Sotto made the trip possible with his contribution of P8 million beyond the P20 million allocation from the PSC for the year, including allowances to 20 bowlers in the national pool.

“Our bowlers trained from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day in Texas,” said Coo. “They practiced the latest cradle technique where you throw the ball with two hands creating a lot more revolutions on the way to the pins.  They learned from US national coach Rod Ross.  They used the headgear to determine how their brains work when they bowl. The headgear has sensors monitored by a computer to show if the brain is relaxed if green or in thought if red. It reflects the mental focus of a bowler when throwing the ball. That kind of electronic technology is useful and the equipment isn’t expensive to bring over. But we need a site and a training place which we hope someday, the PSC could provide. Right now, we practice thrice a week at StarMall where we pay about P20,000 a day for our national pool. If we had a training center, we would have unlimited access to our own lanes.”

Coo declined to predict how the Philippines will fare in bowling at the SEA Games. “No predictions,” she said. “I know we’re expected to deliver since we’re hosting. I told our bowlers I shouldn’t put pressure on them but I’m putting pressure on them anyway. The key is to believe in ourselves. I think we have the advantage over our Southeast Asian counterparts. It will come down to passion, determination, will to win and mental toughness.”