Benitez rolled 864 pins to gain the lead which Kim held shortly after the opening day. Kim’s 838 effort was still good for second place though, just a few notches ahead of third running Cecilia Yap (789).
In contrast, Elmer de Leon, Benny Dytoc and Marcus Reyes kept their 1-2-3 spots in the class O men’s singles two days into the meet sponsored by Boysen, the Philippine Sports Commission, Kegel Asia and AVIVA.
So far, it’s Benitez who had been dominant in the two-week long tourney also backed by AMSTAR, Astor, BQS Management, Kenway, Tone Guide, Silver Wings, Mercury Security Printing, Paper Handling Systems, Confident Feminine Napkins and H.S. Pow Construction.
Other than in singles, Benitez was likewise showing the way in the all-events (class O) with 1674 pinfalls to lead Yap (1591) and Kim (1579), the doubles event (class O), where her team up with Ellen Ramos (795) had them ahead off Jojo Canare and Lovella Catalan (768), and the team event which she shares with teammates Canare and Liza del Rosario (1185).
Members of the men’s national team began to flex their muscles as CJ Suarez and Botchok Rey grabbed the lead in the doubles (class O) with 853 total while the trio of defending champion Frederick Ong and coaches Johnson Cheng and Purvis Granger surged on top of the team event (class O) with scores of 1256.