Rivera clinches seventh straight Team Prima Bowler of the Year

MANILA, Philippines - Inspired by the youthful bowlers nationwide, national player Biboy Rivera won his seventh straight Team Prima Bowler of the Year award (Manila) at the Prima Annual Awards Night recently in Dasmariñas Village in Makati City.

 Rivera, the 2006 World Championship master gold winner, said he wanted to become a role model for the junior bowlers who compete locally and abroad.

“For the last seven years, it was very rewarding for me to win the Prima Bowler of the Year award. I really wanted to be a role model to all youth bowlers,” said Rivera, 38, also a gold medalist in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

 â€œI’m encouraging our youth to keep practicing because they are the ones next in line. They will represent our country soon in various tourneys,” said Rivera, a pioneer member of Team Prima founded by Chairman Alexander Lim.       

 Rachelle Leon, 22, copped her first Prima women’s Bowler of the Year award after winning the Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission National Games Ladies Masters gold medal last May.

 â€œI never expected this award but I was hoping to win it,” said Leon, a graduate of BSBA management in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

 Prima’s cyling coach Frederick “Eboy” Farr captured the Cyclist of the Year award for topping the qualifying round of the Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge this year. His son Jerich Farr won the same feat in 2011 for winning in the Singapore Open.  

 â€œI’m hoping to be No. 1 again in 2013,” said Farr. “I’m really happy that I achieved my goal as a rider and brought pride to our country.”

 Meanwhile, badminton siblings,  Sonny and Aires Montilla grabbed the men’s and women’s Prima Badminton Player of the Year awards, respectively.

 Other awardees were Team Prima Junior Bowlers of the Year Kenneth Chua and Krizziah Tabora, who are also both members of the Philippine National Team.  Most improved bowler went Joshua Autida and Krizziah Tabora .

 Samantha Lagcao was awarded Cebu women’s Bowler of the Year and Jeremiah Luke Bolongan received the men’s Cebu Bowler of the Year citation.

Jerry Lee won the Photographer of the Year, his second in a row.