Barrientos tops GMTBC Open Masters division

Art Barrientos in action during the GMTBC Open finals. INQUIRER.NET / ABEL ULANDAY

Art Barrientos, one of the young rising stars of tenpin bowling in the country, stamped his class to win the Masters division Sunday in the 4th Grand Mall Tenpin Bowling Club (GMTBC)-Yee Lu Fa Invitational Open Championships at the Sta. Lucia Bowling Center in Cainta, Rizal.

Barrientos, of TBAM-Prima, put up a torrid scoring pace in the second game of the stepladder finals to beat Patrick Nuqui of PBA-Nobleland, 262-193. Barrientos enjoyed a twice-to-beat advantage after topping the elimination round of the finals. He was beaten by Nuqui in the first game, 188-184, but bounced back in the second game to win the crown, his second in this tournament after ruling the Mixed Youth division last Saturday.

Read: Santos, Ocampo, Barrientos rule finals of GMTBC Open’s 3 divisions

Both Barrientos and Nuqui opened with a spare in the second game. But after that, Barrientos put on a scintillating show of power bowling, scoring an eight bagger while Nuqui picked up spares after a strike in the third Frame. Barrientos got an open frame in his last throw, but that hardly mattered as he was already beyond reach.

Paolo Darroca of TBAM-Prima wound up third, followed by Alex Bea of PBA, and Danielle Evangelista of TBAM-Prima.

Earlier in the day, Paulene Sta. Ana of TBAM-Prima won the Mixed 14 & Under category, with a six-game total of 1102, followed by Vince Ramel of Sletba, with 1078, and Abraham Saddoy of Datbi, with 1042.

The GMTBC-Yee Lu Fa Invitational Open Championships was sanctioned by the Philippine Bowling Federation. /asu