Umali, Tan want to follow bowling greats Paeng and Rivera to stardom
WHILE many youth bowlers idolize world champions like Paeng Nepomuceno and Biboy Rivera, Kenzo Umali and Merwin Tan just took one step closer to becoming the Philippines’ future pride in bowling.
Umali and Tan led the Philippine Boys’ Team to a 3-0-3 (gold-silver-bronze) medal haul in the recently concluded 17th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championships held in Hong Kong with 15 participating teams from the Asian region.
“Successful bowlers before us, like Paeng Nepomuceno and Biboy Rivera, showed us that hard work and discipline are the key,” said Umali, who is an incoming Grade 11 student. “It’s not easy to be like them [Nepomuceno and Rivera].”
Umali was the first player to grab a gold medal for Team Philippines by knocking down 1369 pins over 6 games in the Boys’ Singles Event. Hong Kong’s Alex Yu and Kuwait’s Mostafa Almousawi got the silver and bronze medals by scoring 1338 and 1335 respectively.
Umali then paired up with Tan in the Boys’ Doubles Event to earn a bronze medal after scoring 2500 over 6 games, behind winner, Hong Kong and 1st runner-up, Macau.
In the Boy’s Team Event, the team of Umali, Tan, Ivan Malig and Louis Cantorna kept the top position after the first block with a slim 16-pin lead which they expanded to 142 pins at the end of the second block.
They earned the Philippines its second gold medal, ahead of Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.
Tan’s 1308 series gave him an aggregate All Events score of 3991, enough to win a third gold medal for the country.
Even before the Masters Event, the Philippines had sealed its lead in the Boys’ medal tally.
The Philippine Girls Team composed of Daphne Custodio, JeikaYutero, Noelle Campos and Grace Gella caught up with Chinese Taipei B in the second block to finish with a score of 4075 in the Girls’ Team Event for a bronze medal finish.
They were 174 pins behind silver medalist Chinese Taipei and 235 pins behind gold medalist Macau.
The Philippines’ last medal was courtesy of Malig who earned a bronze medal by finishing in third place in the Boys’ Masters Finals, where he also rolled the tournament’s lone perfect game.
It was Malig’s last year to play in the Asian Schools tournament along with Cantorna.
The Philippine team trained and coached by Biboy Rivera, Jojo Canare, Gene Tonolete and Boy Florencio ended the tournament with a final medal tally of 3-0-3, slightly behind Overall Champion Macau’s 3-1-2 tally.