21st July, Manila: ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Alex Liew of Malaysia edged Youth division champion, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei 232-228 to capture the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic title and his second in Manila this year.

The 28-year-old proshop supervisor and top-seed, narrowly edged his challenger, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei by just 4 pins. The win gave the champion his second title in Manila this year after he also captured the ABF Tour Philippines leg title in May.

Wu, who finished third in the 8-game semifinals, knocked out second-seed Ryan Lalisang (190) and winner of the first stepladder match, R.J. Bautista (219) with a high game of 250 but found Liew too strong in the crucial match.

Bautista settled for third after he ousted fifth-seed and reigning AMF World Cup champion, C.J. Suarez (221) and ABT Grand Slam champion, Purvis Granger (219) in a hitly contested match with 226.

Alex had earlier topped the semifinals with a score of 1919 followed by Ryan Lalisang in second with 1886 while Wu Hao-Ming took third spot with 1859. R.J. Bautista (1853), C.J. Suarez (1851) and Purvis Granger (1783) made the cut for the stepladder finals in fourth to sixth positions.

Chen Chien-Han (TPE-1766), Sandy Cotoco (PHI-1757), David Wong (SIN-1728) and Tang Joh Six (MAS-1727) finished in the top 10.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.

20th July, Manila: Four Gold medalist of the 18th Asian Championship, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei continued his fine form to triumph in the Youth division finals of the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic late this evening.

Wu, who lead the three blocks of the preliminary qualifying round, easily took the title with a 72-pin cushion over runner-up Frederick Ong of PBAP-Bowlmart. The 22-year-old had lines of 183, 213, 256, 226, 204, 237, 248 and 257 for a total of 1824 while Ong could only manage 1752.

Singapore's David Wong finished a distant third with 1639, 11 pins ahead of Ann Lorraine Gales of Denmark with 1628 in fourth position. Markwin Tee wrapped up the top 5, a further 3 pins away on 1625.

A total of 43 bowlers competed in the Youth division during the qualifying rounds over 24 games and the top 16 contested the finals.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.

20th July, Manila: Filipina, Liza del Rosario clinched the Classified division title of the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic defeating challenger, Kerwin Law 193-174 in the stepladder finals at Pearl Bowling Centre this afternoon.

The top-seed had earlier finished top of the field of 24 bowlers with a score of 1723 over the 8-games semifinals before defeating the challenger, Kerwin Law of TBAM in the final stepladder match.

The runner-up and fifth-seed, won the first match after defeating fourth-seed Willie Natividad (148) of MTBA and last year's champion and sixth-seed Tang Joh Six (213) of CPS Bowl, Malaysia with 246. Law then went on to edge out second-seed Liza Clutario (192) and third-seed Wayne Huang (177) of Chinese Taipei with 195 before loosing to the champion.

Dominic Dee (TPE-1620), Jojo Canare (SLETBA-Ebonite-1602), Ernie Cheng (TPE-1592) and Gilbert Salazar (PBAP-Bowlmart-1582) finished seventh to tenth positions respectively in the earlier semifinals.

The Youth division will contest their semifinals to determine the winners later in the evening while the Open division will take on to the lanes for their semifinals tomorrow (21st July).

Photos courtesy of Chucky Marcelo, Philippines Bowling Congress.

19th July, Manila: Filipino, Benny Dytoc claimed pole position at the end of the third block in the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic 2004 at Pearl Bowling Centre this evening and snatched the lead from overnight leader, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei.

The 40-year-old businessman from Manila, topped a field of 73 Open bowlers with a total of 5351 over the 24-games preliminary qualifying rounds after three days of intense competition. Dytoc took over the pole position from overnight leader, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei, who settled for second with 5284, 67 pins adrift.

33rd Philippines Open champion, Joonee Gatchalian of DATBI-Wave stormed home eigth yesterday to take up third spot with 5236 ahead of reigning AMF World Cup champion, C.J. Suarez in fourth with 5209.

The best of the Malaysian charge was ABF Tour Philippines leg champion, Alex Liew, who improved from 11th to fifth with 5206. Liza del Rosario (PHI-5196), Chien Chan-Han (TPE-5166), Daniel Lim (MAS-5121), Ryan Lalisang

(INA-5091) and Purvis Granger (PHI-5034) made up the top 10 from 6th to 10th positions respectively.

Meanwhile, Filipina Liza del Rosario remained the leader in the Classified division from a total score of 5068 ahead of Chinese Taipei's Dominic Dee, who scored 4897 in second while last year's champion, Tang Joh Six maintained third spot with 4836.

AMF World Cup runner-up, Jojo Canare (SLETBA-Ebonite-4816) and Bibby Chen (TPE-4690) took up the top 5 position.

In the Youth division, Chinese Taipei's Wu Hao-Ming topped the table with a score of 5284. The 18th Asian Championship four Gold medalist led from start to finish of the 24-games preliminary qualifying round being contested by 43 youths. Singapore's David Wong and local youth, Markwin Tee finished second and third with scores of 4982 and 4970 respectively.

The top 16 from the Youth division will contest the semifinals tomorrow (Tuesday 20th July) to determine the champion while the top 24 from the Open and Classified divisions will battle it out for the top 6 stepladder finals positions over another 8 games.

Photos courtesy of Chucky Marcelo, Philippines Bowling Congress.

18th July, Manila: Four Gold medalist of the 18th Asian Championship, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei continued to lead both the Open and Youth divisions of the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic after the second block of 8 games.

The first block leader, who had a comfortable lead of 84 pins, continued to lead after the second block of 8 games but with a margin of just 7 pins on a total of 3608. Hot on his heels was Filipino, Benny Dytoc of PBAP-Bowlmart, who knocked down an impressive 1883 in the second block to give himself a total of 3601 for second spot.

Classified division leader, Liza del Rosario maintained third spot with 3556 ahead of 2003 AMF World Cup champion, C.J. Suarez of PBAP-Bowlmart-Adidas on 3457. ABF Tour Malaysia leg champion, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia also made up grounds from 17th overnight to fifth with 3454.

The top 3 positions in the Youth division remained unchanged with Wu Hao-Ming leading from David Wong and Markwin Tee in second and third spots respectively.

While Liza del Rosario remained top of the Classified division with a total score of 3428, AMF World Cup runner-up, Jojo Canare continued to occupy second spot but with a reduced margin of 162 pins when she totalled 3266 after the two blocks of 8 games contested.

Chinese Taipei's Dominic Dee retained third spot with 3255 ahead of Malaysia's Tang Joh Six, who improved one spot from fifth to fourth on a total of 3235.

Dahryll Geoffry from Thailand improved from ninth overnight to take up fifth spot with 3195. The bowlers will continue their third and final block of 8 games tomorrow to complete the 24 games preliminary rounds. The top 16 from the Youth division, and the top 24 from the Open and Classified divisions will make the cut for the semifinals scheduled for Tuesday, 19th July.

Photos courtesy of Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal and Chucky Marcelo, Philippines Bowling Congress.

17th July, Manila: Filipina, Liza del Rosario took pole position in the first block of the PBAP Bevida-Storm International Classic whilst Chinese Taipei's Wu Hao-Ming topped the Youth and Open division at Pearl Bowling Centre.

2003 Asian Ranked No. 1, Rosario took the lead of the Classified division with a total score of 1808 and averaging an impressive 226. The 26-year-old, who won the Trios Gold medal at the 2003 World Bowling Championship, started off the first block with poor games of 174 and 169 but the Filipina found her line to string together a series of high games on 216, 269, 256, 289, 246 and 189 to take the lead.

2003 AMF World Cup runner-up, Jojo Canare of SLETBA-Ebonite, could not keep pace with the leader to finish 139 pins on 1669. Miguel Crisol of TBAM-Prima took third spot just 6 pins further away on 1663 while Dominic Dee of Chinese Taipei, with a 5-pin handicap, totalled 1654 for fourth position. Last year's Open division champion, Tang Joh Six of Malaysia finished in the top 5 with 1641.

Meanwhile, 18th Asian CHampionship Singles and All Events Gold medalist, Wu Hao-Ming of Chinese Taipei set a blistering pace to take pole position of the Open division with a score of 1958 for an average of 244.75. The 22-year-old from Taipei has a comfortable 88-pin lead over 33rd Philippines Open Champion, Jonee Gatchalian of DATBI-Wave, who knocked down 1874 for second spot.

Classified division leader, Liza del Rosario took third spot with 1872 including an 8-pin handicap bowled for each game of the 8-games first block. Singapores' David Wong and PBAP-Bowlmart's Chester King finished fourth and fifth positions with just two pins separating them on 1784 and 1782 respectively.

Wu also lead the Youth division with the 1958 he scored in the first block

from Singapore's David Wong in second whilst PBAP-Bowlmart's Markwin Tee finsihed third with 1658.

The bowlers will continue their second block of 8 games tomorrow (18th July) and the third block on Monday (19th July). The top 16 from the Youth division will make the cut for the semifinals while the top 24 from the Open and Classified divisions will move on to the semifinals on Tuesday (20th July).

Photos courtesy of Kubasov Vladimir, www.Bowlclub.ru and Keith Hale, Bowlers' Journal.