Paeng leads RP campaign in Asian Tour Grand Slam

SINGAPORE — Hopes are high for legendary Paeng Nepomuceno and four other local bets as they compete against the region’s best in tomorrow’s start of the Aviva Asian Bowling Tour Grand Slam Finals at the Cathay Bowl here.

Nepomuceno, Purvis Granger, Chester King, Irene Garcia-Benitez and Liza del Rosario were just five of the 34 bowlers—18 men’s and 16 women’s–who made it to the last stop of Asia’s most prestigious bowling tournament.

Nepomuceno, a four-time World Cup champion whose recent victory came in the Busan Asian Games where he teamed up with RJ Bautista to bag the doubles gold medal, however, plays in the Lion City ranked only ninth with 98 tour points.

Granger, an American coach representing the Philippines, tops the list after garnering 167.5 tour points courtesy of his Manila leg triumph and a second place finish in Hong Kong while King, the Hong Kong leg winner, is ranked third with 153.

Benitez and del Rosario, part of the RP team that snatched the women’s five-player team silver medal in Busan, are seeded fifth and sixth with 110 and 97 points, respectively. Benitez was a semifinalist in Bangkok and Manila while del Rosario was a losing finalist here.

Nepomuceno, King, Granger, Benitez and del Rosario left the country separately early this week to test the lanes at the National Resort and Country Club in this four-day event sponsored by Aviva Asia.

A total cash purse of $75,000 will be up for grabs including the $1,000 ESPN Champion Challenge and $1,000 each for the men’s and women’s AMF High game award. All the strikes and spares will be shown on ESPN.

Expected to pose a big challenge to the RP keglers are Singapore’s Tom Hahl, ranked second with 156 points, Malaysia’s Zulmarzan Zulkifli, winner of the Chinese Taipei leg and another Singaporean Remy Ong, a triple gold medalist in Busan.

Also in the current men’s list are Malaysians Alex Liew, Gerald Samuel and Daniel Lim, Singaporeans Lee Yu Wen and Carl de Vries, Taiwanese Hsieh Yu Ping and Wang Tien Fu, Aussie Andrew Frawly, Korean Yoon Dal Young, Thai Teerapol Sajjaraktrakul and Guam’s Duane Camacho.

Benitez and del Rosario, on the other hand, will be up against the Malaysian challenge from six lady bowlers headed by Shalin Zulkifli, currently at the helm with a 159 points, Chinese Taipei’s Wang Yu Ling and South Korea’s Koo Hyun Jee among others.