INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? The foreign invasion has just begun in the Philippine International Open tenpin bowling championships.

Reigning Asian ranking champion Hussain Al Suwaidi of the United Arab Emirates hit the ground running Tuesday night rolling a 1,557 to lead the men's class O all-events.

The 28-year-old Suwaidi, coming off a successful campaign in the ABF Tour Kuwait posted 707 pinfalls in singles, 432 in doubles and 427 in trios to quickly reach top spot ahead of 19-year-old perfect game achiever Jerht Santos (1,508).

Santos' teammate in TBAM-Prima and RP campaigner Chester King slid to third place in the qualifying with 1,484.

RP national players continue to hold sway in the women's side with Liza del Rosario registering 1,438 pinfalls to protect her lead against Apple Posadas who carded 1,415 and Krizziah Tabora who chalked 1,374 for second and third places, respectively.

Kuwaiti trios Basel Alanzi, Fahad Al Ragheeb and Yaqoub Al-Shatti also heated up the action when they scored a 1,323 total to breathe to the neck of RP troika of King, Raoul Miranda and Frederick Ong at 1,333.

TBAM-Prima?s Bonnie Ayson, Marc Serac and Bonnie Solis were in third place with a 1,279 pinfalls.

Meanwhile, PTBA's Audi Castro came through with 2,228 pinfalls, while PBA's Carmen Talosig notched 1,928 to capture the senior masters crowns.

Castro rolled lines of 224-203-166-215-214-217-200-258-223-228 for 223 average to take the men's title over PBA's Danny Tuazon who pulled off 2,080. Egay Latag of LCTBA placed third with 2,055.

Scoring lines of 189-198-178-188-191-161-168-155-161-179, Talosig also averaged 193 to beat ITBA-Imus' Perla Pacheco's 1,849 output, while PBA's Mila Robles wound up third with 1,842.

In the rookie masters, Van Gambalan of SLETBA whipped up a 2,035 to take the men's championships even as Merlen Pamintuan of MBA dished out a 1,726 performance to take the women's title.

Rolly Delideli of PTBA had 1,961 to place second, while Allan Racan of MTBA scored 1,827 for third. Stephanie Ocampo of SLETBA-Batang X was runner up in women's with 1,689, while Pure Anselmo of MBA was third with 1,624.

There was hardly a stir in the open masters with former national player Richie Poblete still at the helm (1,407) towing former champ Biboy Rivera (1,394), King (1,392), Jonas Baltazar (1,374) and Paulo Valdez (1,373) in the top five.

Lara Posadas' 1,348 was still good for qualifying first place ahead of RP keglers Del Rosario (1,304), Kim Lao (1,272), sister Apple Posadas (1,262) and Dyan Coronacion (1,260).

Jomas Jumapao of BTA-Prima remains in the top spot of class O singles with 747 pacing Poblete (734) and Rivera (728), while Tabora is in first place in women's side with 719 ahead of Lara Posadas (690) and Lao (674).