Bound for the Southeast Asian Games, Kenneth Chua and Lara Posadas-Wong have been showing great promise in the test event designed to gauge the competitive level of Filipino bowlers against the best from Asia.
Chua installed himself at the top of men’s open qualifying round with a strong 1440 effort in the ongoing Philippine International Open-Tenpin Bowling Championships, while Posadas-Wong, another national pool mainstay, closed out the women’s qualifier ahead of the rest with 1438 pinfalls.
They are the biggest threats to defending champions Sam Cooley of Australia and seasoned Filipino Liza Del Rosario, who are both seeded to the medal round of the week-long tourney.
“The foreign players and our local bowlers are all capable of winning. I have to be consistent until the finals,” said Chua, silver medalist in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Fellow national pool members Merwin Tan (1426), Frederick Ong (1412), Jonas Baltasar (1403), Kenzo Umali (1401) and Raoul Miranda (1367) will join Chua in advancing to the finals of the men’s open where Cooley is waiting.
On the women’s side, Alexis Sy (1343) and 2017 World Cup champion Krizziah Tabora (1333) also moved to the finals with Posadas-Wong as they prepare to challenge Del Rosario and the rest of the foreign contingent from nine countries.
Only the top three Filipino qualifiers from the women’s open will advance to the finale while six from the men’s category will make the main draw of the men’s open.
The ongoing competition has been penciled as part of the national pool’s tryouts for the 30th SEA Games on Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.