Philippine Sports News and Updates

All six members of the Philippine women’s bowling team faltered in the opening singles event of the World Women’s Tenpin Bowling Championships Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Philippine team coach Jojo Canare, who is also making her debut as the squad’s mentor, said opening day jitters and the unexpected cooler conditions affected her wards’ game.

“Our girls were struck by first-day jitters, but I believe that’s normal. And the air-conditioning was cooler than our official practice the previous day. The cooler conditions somewhat also upset their rhythm and they were unable to adjust right away."

Veteran Liza Del Rosario became the top performer among the RP bets but her six-game series of 1251 pinfalls, for a 208.5 average, was good enough for 42nd place overall.

Del Rosario was 110 pins behind leader Stefanie Nation as the hosts’ top bet shot a 1361 for a sizzling 226.8 average.

Rookie Kimberly Lao finished in 99th with 1186 while Liza Clutario, the 2005 Southeast Asian Games ladies’ masters titlist, tallied 1182 for 102nd place.

Completing the cast for the RP ladies are Rachelle Leon, another newcomer, (115th, 1167); Krizziah Taborah (120th, 1149) and Apple Posadas (120th, 1110).

Mexico's Sandra Gongora (1357), Denmark’s Anja Jensen (1347) and Finland’s Krista Pollanen (1345) will contest the singles gold medal with Nation.

The gold medal round will have the top seeded Nation going up against Pollanen while Gongora clashes with Jensen in the other match. The winners will face-off in a one-game title playoff.

Del Rosario, a bronze medalist in the World Games in Taiwan a week ago, opened strong with a 225 but was inconsistent in her next five games with scores of 174, 201, 195, 233 and 223, respectively.

The doubles event begin Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) while the trios preliminaries is scheduled Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Canara opted for the Del Rosario-Clutario tandem in the second team for the doubles events hoping the combination of the seasoned pair would boost the country’s medal chances.

The other pairings are Leon and Lao in the first squad while the duo of Tabora and Posadas were picked to play in the third squad.

• GMANews.TV
• Philippine Sports Central