Merwin Tan opened his bid for a second consecutive Bowling World Cup national title Saturday by shooting a respectable 12-game series of 2640 pinfalls to lead legendary Paeng Nepomuceno and 32 others into the second day of men’s competition at Coronado Lanes.
Tan, whose triumph last year gave him a slot in the BWC international finals at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada, started with 214 and added seven more big games—248, 246, 265, 258, 244, 209 and 249—to pull away from Nepomuceno, who carded 2424 also in 12 games.
Little known Eric Aranez made a big surprise by checking in third with 2393, ahead of other favorites like Paulo Valdez, RJ Bautista, Benshir Layoso and Kenneth Chua who occupied fourth to seventh spots, respectively, and remained among the 34 stll in contention out of the 80-man field.
Valdez tallied 2391, Bautista 2354, Layoso 2318 and Chua 2273.
Forty-three lady finalists, led by 2017 BWC international champion Krizziah Tabora and Liza del Rosario, began their 10-game rounds to determine the top 34 finishers who will advance to the second day scheduled at Superbowl on September 10 (for men) and 11 (for women).
The men’ and women’s titlists will also carry the Philippine colors in the BWC international finals slated on November 16 to 24 in Palembang, Indonesia.
Here’s how the rest of the remaining men’s bowlers fared:
Larry Tinio (2254), Wilson Sua (2252), Jaysan Tubid (2223), Carl Lim (2216), JP Macatula (2207), Boyet Delfino (2204), Don Evangelista (2197), Rod Agustin (2194), Nicco Olaivar (2182), Ronnie Javier (2172), Jerry Bugtong (2139),Dan Enriquez (2134),Tosi Alcasid (2129), RJ Magana (2117), Simple Villajin (2106), Ramel Francisco (2106), King Limpo (2102), Alex Santos (2098), Rosante Unay (2095), Jun Bacolod (2084), Boy Roman (2062), Paul Sia (2058), Roy Nineza (2051), Nino Pabalan (2050), Gener Autor (2024), Joebert Buenafe (2028) and Don Tungala (2016).