Diwa, Custodio claim world bowl bronze

Stephen Luke Diwa and Mac Custodio brought home a bronze medal in the boys doubles of the International Bowling Federation Under-21 World Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden, sustaining the rise of Philippine bowling from the depths.

The gritty Filipino pair barely made the 16-country cut in group play by qualifying as the 15th seed before losing to South Korea in the semifinals and settling for the bronze medal.

Teaming up with Jordan Dinham and Danielle Evangelista, Custodio and Diwa likewise saw action in the team competition and wound up 19th overall, missing the cut in the 16-team group stage.

Filipino keglers ended an international medal drought of more than a decade by bagging two gold medals and a silver in the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, and local federation president Bong Coo believes that the resurgence will continue.

“They were up against the best under-21 bowlers in the world, so getting that bronze medal is indeed a big achievement,’’ said Coo, the newly elected president of the Philippine Bowling Federation.

Swedes dominate

Sweden, which turned back Malaysia in the other semis pairing, clinched the gold after beating South Korea in the finals.

Merwin Tan delivered the much-awaited gold for the country in the men’s singles in Hanoi since Frederick Ong won it in the 2011 edition of the SEA Games. Tan clinched another mint with Christian Dychangco, Ivan Malig and Patrick Nuqui in the men’s team event.

Philippine bowling reached the peak of its success in the late 70s all the way to the 90s prior to the retirement of Coo, a four-time world champion, and fellow World Hall of Famer Paeng Nepomuceno, who now oversees the affairs of the national team.

Coo continues to bat for a training facility for the national keglers to use, believing that this will be key to get Philippine bowling back to prominence. INQ