Youth bowlers struggle in Guam

The CNMI delegation is having a hard time bringing out its usual game in the 8th WTBA World Youth Tenpin Bowling Championship currently being held at the Central Lanes Bowling Centre in Tamuning, Guam.

Going up against top-level bowling talent from around the world and playing in unfamiliar lane conditions, the Commonwealth’s four-man team to the 18-and-under tenpin competition finished near the lower rungs of the singles and doubles competition held earlier this week.

Last Monday, the CNMI’s youth bowlers—Ruselle Zapanta, Raymond Zapanta, Leonard Pangelinan, and Raymond Angeles—took part in the singles event eventually won by Australia’s Jason Belmonte.

The best finisher from the Commonwealth was Ruselle, who ranked 55th after rolling a score of 1,094 in six games for a 182.33 pinfall a game average.

Younger brother, Raymond, was seven spots down at 62nd place. He managed to knock down 1,070 pins in six games for a 178.33 norm.

Angeles, meanwhile, came in 78th best with a six-game output of 1,020 for an average of 170 per game. Pangelinan towed the 87-player singles event after rolling 917 pinfalls in six games, good for an average of 152.83.

Belmonte, incidentally, smoked the field en route to the gold medal, knocking down 1,316 pinfalls in the six-game series for an impressive 219.33 average. The United States’ David O’Sullivan (1,247) and Paul Stott of Ireland (1,246) bagged the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

In the women’s field, Korea’s Kany Hyun-Jin took the gold (1,242) followed by Singapore teammates Hui Yiang Tay (1,228) and Michelle Kwang (1,211).

The CNMI’s struggles continued in the doubles division, where the boys finished No. 48 and No. 49 in the 53-team event.

This time, Angeles and Pangelinan finished ahead of the Zapanta brothers, bowling a combined score of 2,148. Angeles averaged 183.33 per game, while Pangelinan rebounded mightily with a norm of 174.67.

The Zapantas were 35 pins off their teammates’ total at 2,113 pinfalls. Raymond averaged 181.67 in the six-game event, while Ruselle limped to a 170.5 a game performance.

The Swedish pair of Robert Anderson and Mikael Kanold won the boys doubles competition after racking up a score of 2,599. Clay Herrbach and Patrick Haggerty of the U.S. finished second (2,548), while coming in third were Japan’s Isao Yamamoto and Toshikiko Takahashi (2,495).

The top team in the women’s doubles was the Mexican tandem of Sandra Gongora and Iliana Lomeli (2,466), followed by two teams from the U.S.—Jennifer Petrick and Stephanie Nation (2,416), and Anita Manns and Olivia Sandham (2,404).

The tournament shifts to Team of Four events for the boys and girls starting today with players competing on both Short and Long Oil conditions. The top 16 in the 18-game All Events then duke it out in the Masters Finals to be staged in the last two days of the championship.

The top three at the end of the Masters will then battle it out in the stepladder finals to determine the champion.