Del Rosario, Philippines teammates clash in PIO finals

MANILA, Philippines — Defending champion Liza del Rosario sees her teammates in the national team as the worthy challengers for the women’s open title in the Philippine International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at the Coronado Lane at Starmall, Mandaluyong City.

Posing the biggest threat to Del Rosario are fellow PH pool mainstays Lara Posadas-Wong and Dyan Coronacion as well as 2017 World Cup champion Krizziah Tabora and female bowler of the year Alexis Sy.

``My teammates have been playing well and it’s really anybody’s ballgame,’’ said Del Rosario, a multiple gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games.

On her final year in the national team before heading toward retirement, Del Rosario is seeded in the first round of the finals as the reigning women’s titleholder of the tourney.

``It’s totally different in the finals. The stakes and pressure are higher, the adjustments harder,’’ said Del Rosario, who recently passed the board examinations as an environmental planner.

Posadas-Wong remained on top of the women’s open qualifying with 1438 pinfalls followed by Coronacion (1421 and Tabora (1358). Within striking distance are Sy (1346), youth standout Bea Hernandez (1325) and Rachelle Leon (1317), last year’s runner-up.

The top three performers until today’s qualifying round will automatically advance to the medal round Sunday while nine female keglers, including six foreign players, will make it to the first round of the finale tomorrow.

Leading the way in the foreign side are Nadia Pramanik of Indonesia (1285), Amabel Chua of Singapore (1263), Malaysia’s Puteri Nurul Dini (1262), and Singaporean Charlene Lim (1260).