In the final quarter of 2003, Liza del Rosario, Liza Clutario and Cecille Yap achieved what no other Filipino — or Asian player for that matter — has ever done in the last 20 years, bagging in record-breaking fashion the gold medal in the women’s trios of the World Tenpin Bowling (FIQ) Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Two meet records went tumbling down in the wake of the Filipinas’ splendid performance.
Hitting a combined 2,062 pinfalls in their final three games, Del Rosario, Clutario and Yap broke the previous mark of 1,954 set by Japan in 1999. Not only that, their 3,797 total in all of six games smashed the old world standard of 3,782 a Korean trio also booked in 1999.
As if those were not enough, Clutario, the youngest among the three at 24, capped the stint by winning the silver medal in the women’s masters and adding a bronze in the women’s all-event.
Their impressive showing had the trio copping third place overall in the women’s class behind England and the United States.
Recognizing that one proud stretch for local bowling in the middle of September, the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) bestows on the three ladies the PSA President’s Award come its annual Awards Night at the Manila Pavilion on Jan. 9.
The bubbly team of the 25-year old Del Rosario, last year’s Asian tenpin singles champion, Clutario and Yap, 25, is only the second recipient of the special award, given to a group or individual who achieved exemplary honor.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles got the award last year after ending a 14-year title drought in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.
Together with boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao and bowling wonder Christian Jan Suarez, named as co-athletes of the year, the women’s bowling squad along with a host of others, will be honored by the country’s oldest media organization in two-hour rites sponsored by Red Bull and Agfa Colors and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Mayor Lito Atienza, San Miguel Corp. and the Philippine Basketball Association.
No less than President Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo are expected to grace the rites to be televised over NBN-4 with amateur cager Alex Compton and Lala Roque as hosts.
Actually, the ladies’ triumph began the ball rolling for Philippine bowling in 2003.
During the FIQ Congress held simultaneously with the week-long meet considered as the Olympics of bowling, Steve Hontiveros, president of the Philippine Bowling Congress (PBC), was elected by acclamation as head of the International Bowling Federation, making him only the third Filipino to head an international sports body after Florencio Campomanes in chess and Lito Puyat in basketball.
Two weeks after that came the biggest catch of all.
Suarez bagged the men’s World Cup in Tegucigalpa, Honduras by sweeping Dutchman Marcel van den Bosch in the championship round, making him the first Filipino to win the prestigious title after four-time champion Paeng Nepomuceno.
The Philippines could have scored a twin kill had Jojo Canare not fallen in the semifinals opposite Shannon Pluhowsky of the US.
Nonetheless, by finishing in joint third, Canare helped the Philippines grab the team championship in partnership with Suarez.
This marked the second straight year bowling did the country proud.
In 2002, the duo of Nepomuceno and RJ Bautista bagged the doubles gold in the Asian Games in Busan, Korea, while del Rosario, along with the pair of Biboy Rivera and Chester King, triumphed in the 17th Asian Tenpin Championships in Hong Kong.