Rivera claims title over Tee in PBC Open

Biboy Rivera, the team captain of the Philippine team, finally ended a nine-year drought in the PBC International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships with a close win over compatriot Markwin Tee, 246-242, Saturday night at the Green Valley Bowling Center in Pasig City.

Tee, playing for PBAP-Bowlmart, won the first game in the finals but Rivera came back strong in the second game to earn the P150,000 champion’s purse.

Tee earned the right to face Rivera after posting the best score of 253 in the second shootout match as against former RP coach Purvis Granger (224) and TBAM-Prima’s Frederick Ong (212).

In the first shootout match, Ong scored 215 to beat Korean Seo Jung Hwan (194) and Malaysian Alex Liew (156) to advance in the next round.

Rivera, who works as a freelance travel consultant and a part-owner of a trading and food company, will also get a share of the P100,000 prize as one of six perfect-gamers in this tournament serving as qualifying for the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) Tour. He rolled a perfect game Friday.

The other perfect-gamers were Korean Kang Hyun Jin, 2003 World Cup men’s champion CJ Suarez, 2005 SEA Games ladies masters gold medalist Liza Clutario, former national team member Richie Poblete and 13-year-old Anjo Lecaros.

"It feels good to win in my homeground. I guess I don’t want to disappoint my countrymen so I had to do my best to win," said the 32-year-old Rivera, who was cheered on by his parents and RP teammates.

Rivera topped the first block with 1960 and the second block with 1886 for a total of 3846 to lead the six bowlers into the stepladder finals.

"Parang jinx nga sa akin itong PBC Open kasi maganda naman ang performance ko sa abroad," added Rivera, whose best finish in this tournament was third in 1996, the same year he won the Youth Master title in Malaysia. 

Rivera, a tourism graduate at UST who also earned an MBA from Ateneo, was a member of the team that won the silver (2005) and gold (2001) in the SEA Games. He also bagged the doubles gold and all-events silver in the 2002 Asian Championships.

 Korean Kang Hyun Jin, the 2004 World Masters champion, won the ladies Masters title over compatriot Koo Hyun Jee, 279-210. 

Koo Hyun Jee made it to the finals with a best score of 202 against compatriot Kim Soo Kyoung’s 159 and Filipino Cecilia Yap’s 190 in the second shootout match.

Koo Hyun Jee also topped the first shootout match, coming up with 258 while compatriot Kim Eun Jung and Filipino Marjo Reyes scored 225 and 119, respectively.

The 22-year-old Kang scored 1869 and 1887 for a total of 3756 to lead the six bowlers advancing into the step-ladder finals.