The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The 2nd PBF Philippine International Open Championships kicked off Saturday at the Coronado Lanes in Starmall on Edsa, Mandaluyong City featuring the best bowlers in the land who will face a world-class foreign challenge from nine other countries.
Backed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), over 300 local bowlers, led by the members of the national team and 150 international participants from Asia and Oceania, will vie for supremacy during the April 28-May 13 tourney.
World Cup champion Krizziah Tabora heads the Philippine contingent along with Kenneth Chua and Lara Posadas, who are both seeking to retain their respective men’s and women’s open singles titles in the meet sponsored by Smart Communications, Cafe Puro and Boysen.
During Saturday’s opening ceremony, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Ricky Vargas inducted the newly elected officers of the Philippine Bowling Federation (PBF), headed by its president Steve Robles, as the legitimate national sports association (NSA) for tenpin bowling.
Aside from Tabora, Chua and Posadas, other members of the national squad, namely Enzo Hernandez, Raoul Miranda, Kevin Cu, Anton Alcazaren, Jomar Jumapao, Merwin Tan and Kenzo Umali of the men’s pool were presented to the covering media.
Joining them were women’s pool mainstays Liza del Rosario, Alexis Sy, Rachelle Leon, Mades Arles, Bea Hernandez and Dyan Coronacion during the opener of the event that offers P3 million in prizes and a finely crafted trophy for the Open divisions by world-renowned Filipino sculptor Joe Datuin.
Bowling icon and four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno is the head coach of the national bowling team with former champions Biboy Rivera, Jojo Canare and Rey Reyes as assistant coaches.
“True to our mission of promoting and developing the sport of tenpin bowling in the national and grassroots levels, the PBF has organized another prestigious Asian ranking tournament, the 2nd PBF Philippine International Open (PIO),” said PBF secretary general Bong Coo.
“This tournament will bring in world-class bowlers from the various countries in the Asian zone and gather Filipino bowlers of all levels, making it a good training ground for the Philippine national team which is preparing for the Asian Games. It is also a venue to scout new and emerging talents for the sport,” added Coo, a four-time world champion and the most decorated athlete in any sport.
Gracing the opening rites were Senator Tito Sotto, also the current PBF chairman, 2019 Southeast Asian Games (Seag) chef de mission Monsour del Rosario and Councilor Boy Esteban from the Office of Mandaluyong City Mayor Carmelita Abalos.
Aiming to promote tenpin bowling in the country, the PBF-PIO is sanctioned by World Bowling (WB) and the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF).
Right after the ceremony, the PBF Invitational Corporate Cup took place with 36 teams of four players each competing for the championships in various divisions.
Over the next two weeks, the Philippine squad has to hurdle the top bowlers from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Guam and Brunei in preparation for their upcoming competitions overseas.