Poblete misses perfect game in PBC international bowl

Comebacking national player Richie Poblete came tantalizingly close to scoring the first perfect game in the 36th PBC-Boysen International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at the SM Mall of Asia Bowling Center.

After a shaky 159 in the opening frame, Poblete, armed with a 15.5-pound Vertigo Storm ball, found his groove on lanes 19 and 20 and seemed poised to make the first 300 on the newly-built venue built inside the sprawling shopping complex at a cost of over P100 million.

But after 10 strikes in a row, the 33-year-old bachelor’s fortune ran out as he left the No. 3 and No. 6 pins standing in his bid to seal the game and eventually had to settle for a 287.

“Richie had difficulty reading the lines which accounted for his 159 in the first game,” his father, former Philippine Bowling Congress president Ric Poblete, said.

Still, Poblete, coming out of a six-year layoff, used that as a springboard to close his four-game series with scores of 249 and 248 to wheel into second place with a 943 in the men’s Class O eliminations of the kegfest sponsored by Boysen, Amway and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Poblete was 23 pins behind frontrunner Nicodemus Valderama, who had a 966 in the tourney also supported by Accel, Timberpro and Bayview, the official hotel.

Sharing the spotlight was season veteran and four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno, who paced the men’s Class O all-events with a tally of 1,707 after the singles, doubles and team competitions.

Reigning world champion Biboy Rivera was in second spot at 1,645 while Chester King took third with a 1,592 output.

On the other hand, it was an all-PBAP show in the ladies’ Class O all-events with siblings Lara and Posadas in first and second places with 1,549 and 1505, respectively, while teammate Holly Josef occupied third spot with a 1,469.