De Guzman tops Senior masters class in 7th GMTBC-NP Open

Jun de Guzman (2nd from left) enjoys his championship moment with friends from Sletba.

Jun de Guzman of Sletba withstood the challenge of Philippine bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno to win the Senior Masters division finals Friday in the 7th GMTBC-Nilo Penado Open Championships in Sta. Lucia Bowling Center in Cainta, Rizal.

De Guzman rolled a total of 1710 pinfalls for the 8-game series, followed by Tosi Alcasid of PSB with 1638, Vener Reasonda of PTBA-Henrich with 1619, Nepomuceno, who represented Sletba-GMTBC, with 1606, and Billy Hernandez of GMTBC-DFBC with 1568.

The winners all won cash prizes.

The 5 players actually figured in a close fight in the first four games, until De Guzman started pulling away with high games in the 5th and 6th games.

“Naka-tsamba ako (I got the breaks),” De Guzman said in reply to greetings he got from the other finalists and Sletba friends, particularly to a comment on him beating Nepomuceno.

The event on Friday was the first finals to be held in the week-long tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Bowling Federation.

The finals for the mixed youth masters and classified masters will be held on Saturday, March 11.

The championship games for the senior associate and open masters divisions will be played on Sunday, March 12.—Abel Ulanday