Suarez, Gatchalian claim doubles gold

The RP bowlers rolled to another gold-medal performance yesterday as CJ Suarez and Joonie Gatchalian pulled off a nail-biting victory over Malaysia’s pair Alex Liew Kien Liang and Ben Heng Boon Hian to win the men’s doubles short oil gold medal in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games at the Pearl Bowling Center in Parañaque City yesterday.

The Filipino duo came through with a six-game series of 476, 443, 492, 497, 464, 382 for a 459 average and a 2,754-pinfall aggregate, beating the Malaysians by just 11 pins for the gold that came after world FIQ gold medalist Ma. Cecilia Yap topped the women’s singles series long oil event Tuesday.

Liang and Hian had 2,743 (456, 472, 451, 462, 461, 441) and took the silver.

Malaysia also captured the bronze with the tandem of Daniel Lim Tow Chuang and Aaron Kong Eng Chuan scoring a total of 2,677 pins (414, 439, 443, 416, 420, 545).

"We just applied what we did in practice and focused well on execution," said Suarez.

But Indonesia spoiled another bid for a sweep by the local bowlers, winning the women’s doubles short oil event.

Happy Ari Dewanti Soediyono and Putty Insavilla Armein combined for 2,753 pinfalls (424, 491, 476, 419, 462, 481), to beat Ces Yap and Liza Clutario who had a total of 2,654.

Yap and Clutario had lines of (462, 403, 441, 451, 464, 433) to finish tied for second with Malaysia’s Wendy Chai de Choo and Zandra Aziela (496-431-431-399-393-504)

"It’s hard to adjust lane after lane when you’re anxious and excited," Yap said.

"We did our best. We won silver, I couldn’t ask for more. You have to give credit to the Indonesians, they bowled very well," said RP coach Johnson Cheng.

Indonesia also foiled RP’s bid for a sweep in the singles long oil event Monday when Ryan Leonard Lalisang beat SEAG rookie Markwin Tee, 1,425 to 1,400.

Another Filipino pair, Liza del Rosario and Josephine Canare finished fourth overall with 2,610 total pins (439, 492, 435, 354, 409, 481).

Gatchalian and Suarez leaned on a blistering start, taking hold of the top two positions all throughout, before Suarez came up with a double to cushion the impact of the Malaysians’ rally.

Suarez scored a double in the last frame of the sixth and final game to seal the win over the resurgent Malaysian duo, who were down by only four pins at the start of the sixth.

"We could not immediately read the lanes, and that enabled the Malaysians to catch up," Suarez said. "Luckily we prevailed."

The tandem of fellow Filipinos Chester King and Tee finished fifth in the six-nation tournament after knocking down 2,654 total pins.

It was Gatchalian’s first SEA Games gold while Suarez copped his third after winning two in Malaysia in 2001 on the team of five and trio categories.