Yap rallies to pocket singles gold

World FIQ gold medalist Ma. Cecilia Yap delivered the first gold medal in bowling for Team Philippines in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games as she topped the women’s singles series long oil event in come-from-behind fashion at the Pearl Bowling Center in Parañaque City.

Yap, who with Liza Clutario and Liza del Rosario won the World FIQ trio championship in Malaysia last year, rallied with big rounds in the last two games, including a 235 and a 257 to beat Zandra Aziela of Malaysia and Novie Phang of Indonesia for the gold medal.

"I was surprised because I didn’t know that I was still in the hunt for the (gold) medal," Yap told The STAR. "I only knew about the gold when I took my second to the last shot."

Yap finished with 1,358 pinfalls, including rounds of 205, 224, 233 and 204, for an average of 226.

Aziela finished second with 1,342 pinfalls (267, 193, 193, 206, 225, 258) while Phang, who led most of the game, settled for the bronze medal with 1,334 (215, 278, 186, 276, 193, 186).

Phang and compatriot Ari Dewanti Soediyono dominated in the event, taking the first and second spots from the second to the fifth game.

In contrast, Yap, hobbled by a tendinitis, had a rather shaky start, finishing only in seventh place after the second game.

Three RP women bowlers also finished in the top eight of the six-nation tournament. Del Rosario and Josephine Canare garnered 1,302 pinfalls for fifth and sixth place, respectively. Liza Clutario, another Asian Games veteran, finished eighth with 1,273 pinfalls.

In men’s singles long oil, newcomer Markwin Tee scored a perfect 300 to make up for an opening line of 168, but his heroics fell 25 pins short of gold medal winner Ryan Leonard Lalisang of Indonesia. Lalisang scored 1,425. Tee won the silver with 1,400 on lines of 168-238-236-300-235-223. Another Indonesian Lie JoeTjam finished third (1,390).