Del Rosario, King wrest bowl lead

MANILA, Philippines - Veterans Chester King and Liza del Rosario came through with big games Monday night to wrest the Class O men’s and women’s singles leads in the 38th Philippine International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at the Paeng’s Midtown Bowl at the Robinson’s Place Ermita.

King, who won the all-events gold in the 20th Asian championships in Hong Kong last year, opened with lines of 213 and 210 before ending his three-game series with a 262 for a pacesetting tally of 685 in the kegfest sponsored by University of Perpetual Help System, Department of Tourism, Amway Philippines, Philippine Sports Commission, Chowking, Pagcor, Colgate-Palmolive, USAct, Pearl Garden Hotels, The City Bowling Shop, Paeng’s Midtown Bowl and Pan Pacific Manila, the tournament’s official hotel.

The TBAM-Prima-RP standout toppled Jeff Chan from the top spot, relegating the junior bowler to second, two pins behind at 683 while Kenneth Chua remained in third place with a 679.

Del Rosario, the 2007 RP Open women’s masters winner, carded lines of 234, 209 and 214 for a 657 as she dislodged RP teammate Apple Posadas (649) and defending Ladies’ Masters champion Krizziah Tabora (624) in the Ladies’ Class O Singles.

There were also changes in the Class O trios event with 2008 Asian championships gold medalists King, Raoul Miranda and Frederick Ong, pooling 1,333 to take charge in the men’s event ahead of the team of Biboy Rivera, Jonas Baltasar and Paulo Valdez who checked in second with a 1,251 output.

The tournament offers over P2 million in cash and prizes with a special prize of a four-year college scholarship grant worth P250,000 courtesy of UPHS going to the first local bowler to score a perfect game.

The same scholarships are also being offered to the local topnotchers in the men’s and women’s Open division contests, according to PBC president Mariano Tamayo. 

The Chowking King of the Lanes Perfect Game award of P50,000 is also up for grabs in the 16-day kegfest sanctioned by the World Tenpin Bowling Association and the Asian Bowling Federation.