Chan nails Sletba Graded Masters title; Tan scores

PEPING Chan of the Sta. Lucia East Tenpin Bowling Association (Sletba) showed steely nerves to win the Graded Masters title in the 18th Sletba Open in Cainta, Rizal, yesterday.

Chan rolled a 10-game total of 2489 for a sizzling 248 average to beat TBAM-Prima youth stalwart Louis Cantorna (2462) and fellow Sletba player Tony Gamo (2455).

On Friday, Mil Tan of the Sta. Lucia East Tenpin Bowling Association (Sletba) bagged the Senior Masters crown.

Tan rolled a nine-bagger in the 10th game of the finals to post a 2712 and pull away from his closest pursuers Takahiro Yoshida of Pasig Bowling Association (PBA) who had 2592 and fellow Sletba member Sohrab Almajose with 2558.

He missed posting a perfect score when he had an open in the last frame, but that didn’t matter as the overall total by that time had already decided who the winner was.

It was a thrilling contest as the 30 finalists posted high scores to keep pace with each other, but Chan proved to have the steadiest hand in the end.

Chan had only a five-pin advantage over Marwin Santiago of Datbi (Dagupan Association of Tenpin Bowlers Inc.) going into the 10th and last game of the finals, with Cantorna and Gamo close behind.

But Chan kept them at bay with a 225 score despite one open frame as against Cantorna’s 214 and Gamo’s 232. Santiago managed to score only 192, relegating him to fourth place.

The finals in the Associate Masters and the Masters groups will be held Sunday to cap the week-long annual tournament.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer and Inquirer.net are the official media partners of this event.