Philippine Sports News and Updates

Left in disarray after failing to bag a single victory in the last Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine Bowling Congress over the weekend tapped 26-year-old former national pool player Nico Valderrama to steer its plans for future international stints.

Already, Valderrama announced the staging of the national eliminations on March 7-11 at the Green Valley Lanes in Pasig City where top guns, including reigning world masters champion Biboy Rivera and former World Cup winner CJ Suarez, are required to take part.

“Everybody must play because we are starting from scratch,” said Valderrama, who took a leave from the Arellano Law School and from his teaching job at St. Paul University to focus on his new task.

Valderrama’s plan to hire a foreign coach will have to wait until two months because of a lack of budget.

“We would want to hire foreign coaches but because of financial constraints, we wanted to hire only two months before a tournament,” he said.

He was formally named last Saturday during the PBC meeting and was brought to the PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue Tuesday by PBC secretary general Bong Coo.

“The PBC is taking on a new direction,” Coo told the forum, also sponsored by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor). “We are now going for young coaches who can devote their full time to the national team.”

Valderrama, an official of the Tenpin Bowling Association of Makati, said he was given a free hand to choose his coaching staff. He is also set to visit all the associations around the country to promote the national eliminations.

He replaced Madoka Amano, Jean Canaleta and Caloy de Leon who all resigned after failing to produce a gold medal during the Thailand SEA Games last December.

National women’s team captain Jojo Cañare also retired but was named coach of the national squad.