Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) – The eight-member Philippine bowling team hopes to end its 11-year gold medal drought in the Southeast Asian Games when it goes to Hanoi, Vietnam next month.
Team manager Rey Reyes said the Filipino bowlers have not stopped training since last year and are all motivated to win the top prize.
“Mataas din po ang morale ng bowlers natin kasi matagal na nilang hinihintay ang makalaro na ulit sa SEA Games at sila mismo ay gusto nilang mahigitan ang performance nila last 2019 SEAG dito sa atin,” Reyes told CNN Philippines.
[Translation: The bowlers’ morale is high partly because they waited long enough and are readying themselves well to compete in the SEA Games and surpass their performance in the last 2019 SEA Games held here in our country.]
The Philippines last won a SEAG bowling gold back in 2011 in Indonesia where the country had a one-two podium finish in the men’s singles event. Frederick Ong and Jeremy Posadas clinched the gold and silver medals, respectively.
In the last SEA Games held in Mandaluyong City, the Filipino bowlers produced silver and bronze medals in the Team of 4 event, with the male side bagging the silver while their female counterpart the bronze.
In the upcoming Vietnam meet, 2019 SEA Games silver medalists Merwin Tan and Patrick Nuqui will return to the fold along with World Youth Championships bronze medalist Ivan Malig and Christian Dychangco.
Veteran national team campaigner Lara Posadas-Wong will head the Filipina bowlers along with fellow 2019 SEA Games bronze medalist Alexis Sy and standouts Mades Arles and Rachelle Leon.
“We are always aiming high and aiming for the gold. Rest assured that we’ll do our best to give pride to our country,” Sy said in a recent interview by the Philippine Sports Commission’s People Sports Conversations program.
The Philippine bowling team hopes to carry the momentum from their two bronze medals finish in the 2021 IBF Super World Championships held in Dubai last November, the lone tournament they competed in the past two years or in the middle of a pandemic.
The bowlers are employing hybrid training modes, with physical training being held four times a week at the Coronado Lanes Bowling Center in Mandaluyong City and separate virtual sessions for conditioning skills and mental health care.
The members of the Hanoi-bound Philippine bowling squad were chosen through tryouts conducted last Feb. 15-19, where 32 games were played using the four different oiling patterns followed by the United States Professional Bowlers Association.
