Cooley seeks Phl Open bowling title repeat

MANILA, Philippines — Australian Sam Cooley, being the defending champion with victories in the other parts of the world, is the bowler to watch in the finals of 2019 Philippine International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at the Coronado Lanes at Starmall, Mandaluyong starting today.

But Cooley doesn’t expect to defend the crown easily.

“I don’t see it particularly easy. It’s going to take a lot of good shotmaking and mental toughness to get it done,” said Cooley.

Challenging Cooley is the Phl men’s team led by four-time Filipino male bowler of the year Kenneth Chua, the leader in the qualifying round, and youth standouts Kenzo Umali and Merwin Tan.

Cooley, a gold medalist in the all events of the 2012 world youth championships, is seeded in the first round of the finals while Chua, Umali and Tan have advanced straight to the medal round set on Sunday.

“I qualified automatically. Right now, I’m just testing out things until the finals,” said Cooley, who also had a collection of silver and bronze medals in the world championships.

Chua sealed the No. 1 spot in the qualifying round after rolling 1483 pinfalls, Umali wound up 50 behind while Tan, Asian youth singles gold medalist, compiled 1426 after two rounds.

“It will take more than just consistency to win. I have to show up with my performance in the finals,” said Chua, singles silver medalist in the 2017 Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Also poised to move over to the finals are national team mainstay Frederick Ong (1412), Jonas Baltasar of TBAM-Prima (1403) and PH pool member Emerson Gotencio (1394).