Paeng comes full circle

It’s getting to the point that closure may be a word never used to describe Paeng Nepomuceno. The Guinness record-holder continues to pile up accomplishments that seem ever more unsurpassable. Just recently, he has padded his superhuman record further, coming full circle in a tournament that started his seemingly unending rise as a bowler.

Two weeks ago, Nepomuceno won the 40th Philippine International Open Masters at the Midtown Bowl at Robinson’s Place Ermita. What most bowling aficionados find remarkable is that it was a record-stretching eighth title for Paeng in the event. What they don’t realize is that it meant much more to him than that.

Nepomuceno won his very first Philippine International Open Masters in 1974, at the tender young age of 17. That still stands as the record for youngest-ever Philippine Bowling Congress masters champion. To put things into perspective, this was less than two years after the declaration of Martial Law, there were no flyovers on EDSA, and Manny Pacquiao had not yet been born. Now, Nepomuceno has book-ended that feat, becoming the oldest champion of the country’s most prestigious bowling event at the age of 54.

“I feel really good that at my age, I can still keep up with the younger ones and I am happy that I won again the Philippines’ most prestigious tournament,” the four-time World Cup champion told The Star. “I think my father Pappy (Angel Nepomuceno) helped me win. It was his birthday the day before the finals. He passed away a year and a half ago. I dedicate this win to him.”

Nepomuceno has three standing Guinness World Records. The first is for being the youngest world bowling champion at 19, when he won the 1976 Bowling World Cup, his first. The second is for being the only athlete to have won world titles in three different decades: the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The third and most recent Guinness nod is for winning the most international career titles at 118. However, that record has continually been pulverized. With the Philippine International Open Masters title, that massive number has risen to 123 international titles.

The format for this year’s Masters championship started with the top 36 qualifiers. The field was cut to 20 bowlers after qualifiers played eight games in the first round. The 20 remaining bowlers proceeded to round two, bowling another set of eight games to get the top eight bowlers. Paeng was running fifth at this stage, behind Chester King, Sammy Say Sy, Biboy Rivera and Hussain Alsuwaidi, whom he would face in the quarterfinals.

This was where Paeng turned it up, as he usually would in critical stages of a tournament, swamping Alsuwaidi, 249-213. In the semifinals, he was ranged against Benshir Layoso, whom he beat impressively, 226-189. This set up a finals match-up with 2006 world champion and 2010 Philippine Sportswriters Association Athlete of the Year for the sport, Asian Games gold medalist Biboy Rivera.

Both bowlers had gone through so many games against top-calibre talent, and struggled somewhat. In fact, Nepomuceno has a split in the last frame, but had enough of a cushion to get past Rivera, 195-184.

“I still feel confident that I can still ably continue to represent the country at international competitions and look forward to winning another world title,” said Nepomuceno, whose main job is certifying bowling instructors around the world for the US Bowling Congress.

Generations of bowlers have come and gone, but Paeng has been the one timeless constant in the sport.

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Congratulations to the winners and the team behind NBA 3-on-3 Philippines 2011 presented by Sprite, the first event of its kind in Southeast Asia, held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall from July 1 to 3. A team from Zamboanga, captained by Energen Skills Challenge winner Rolando Navarro, Jr., topped the 32-team Open division. The team had actually bought their plane tickets to Manila even before they were certain that there was still an available slot for their team. Meanwhile, the Coca-Cola Tigers Legends, composed of Kenneth Duremdes, Gerard Francisco, Ronjay Enrile and MC Caceres mowed the field to emerge champion of the VIP division.

The event was made even more impressive with great performances from Philippine DJ champion Skin Kadafi, Philippine under-18 representative to the Hip Hop Awards Legit Status, and emcees Mike Swift, Boyet Sison and Mico Halili. The next NBA 3-on-3 event will be held in Thailand.