Asian Bowling Tour rolls into Manila

The CGU Asian Bowling Tour enters its fifth season when Asia’s elite keglers gather at the Pearl Bowling Center tomorrow for the Philippine leg.

The top 14 bowlers on the masters finals of the 31st Boysen-PBC International Bowling Championships will be eligible to play in the two-day knock-out tournament June 16-17.

Singapore bowlers once again shone in the World Ranking Masters in May. Singapore retained the women’s title when Jennifer Tan emerged champion by beating teammate and the 2001 champion, Jesmine Ho, in an all-spinner finals and became the second Singaporean to win the World Ranking Masters title.

She will now be the No. 1 ranked woman bowler in the world for a year. Remy Ong, another Singaporean bowler, finished on top of the 23-game round-robin stage before losing out in the quarterfinal.

Ho will return to defend her title. In 2001, the then runner-up in the grand slam finals beat Shin Hyoo Soo from Korea in the women’s final. Subsequently, Zulmazran Zulkifli from Malaysia upset the home crowd when he edged CJ Suarez to lift the men’s title. Both bowlers also won the $1,000 AMF High Game Award.

With the 17th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships and the 14th Asian Games coming in the next three months, this leg will serve as a crucial tournament for bowlers in their warm-up programs.

After the Philippine leg, the Tour will move to China and the top 14 men and women bowlers from the China International Open will be eligible to play in the fourth leg. In July, there will also be a ranking tournament in Korea.

The 2002 Tour will have six legs and a ranking event in Korea. The top 16 bowlers on the ranking table will be eligible to play in the Grand Slam Finals to be held in Singapore in January 2003.