Zapanta, Talavera honored for perfect games

It took 22 years after Benny Pangelinan and Jaime Sasamoto accomplished every bowler’s dream of rolling a perfect game before Jon Hensley came through in 2004, and since then, the list of perfectionists has grown.

Accomplishing the feat earlier in the year were Robert Talavera and young gun Raymond Zapanta, who were both recognized by the Saipan Bowling Association and the Philippine Bowling Association during a brief ceremony at the Saipan Bowling Center Saturday evening.

Talavera accomplished the feat in the Wednesday Night Mixed League last Feb. 10 while playing for defending champion TJ5 Star, while Zapanta became just the sixth bowler in NMI history to bowl a perfect game, connecting for 12 consecutive strikes while suiting up for defending champion Fun & Games in the Budweiser Saturday Night League last Feb. 18.

“I think these two recent perfect games prove that our bowlers indeed can achieve the highest level which is making a perfect game,” said SBA president Jerry Tan. “I know both bowlers. A perfect game is not by luck. I think both of them have put in many hours of practice and competition play for them to reach that level.”

Both Talavera and Zapanta received plaques of recognition and $250 each from SBA.

“As far as SBA’s concerned, we’re just very pleased to see that our bowlers, and not just Raymond and Robert…I think many other SBA bowlers continue to improve over the last two years, so this is not the end of seeing the perfect game…probably just the beginning. With fulltime coach Sarah Yap working right now, I’m very optimistic that our bowlers in SBA will continue to do well and to improve their game and as a result of that, be more competitive in the international tournament,” Tan added.

“We like to recognize any bowler who has achieved excellent result, and bowling a perfect game is like hitting a hole-in-one in golf. When you hit a hole-in-one, you’re being rewarded big time. So it’s a small way for SBA to recognize the excellent performance and to reward them so that at the same time, other bowlers will be motivated that if you do a lot of practice, you can also achieve the same result and you also will be rewarded by SBA the same way,” Tan said.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Zapanta also received another plaque of recognition plus $250 from the PBA.

“This Raymond, he’s still young and already a very good bowler,” said PBA president Milo Orallo. “Since before, he’s been a consistent bowler. We have to recognize his accomplishment. Very few bowlers can do that as of now. I don’t know when a perfect game will be done again, and we have to recognize the performance to whoever bowler can accomplish the feat.”

For his part, Zapanta said accomplishing a perfect game was one of his big goals in the sport. However, he did not expect to accomplish the feat this soon.

“It’s pretty exciting. I didn’t think I would hit 300 [at this age], probably later on,” he said. “I’m going to save the money for college.”

Zapanta said prior to the perfect game, he had spent most of his time competing in leagues, with only Saturday set aside for practice. The competitions, most especially his stints off-island, serve as key factors in the improvement of his game.

“Playing off-island really improved my game. I learned from the national teams from around Asia. I watched them and talk to them and picked up a lot of tips,” he said.

Zapanta was also recognized by the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association as the February Male Student Athlete of the Month.

Joining Talavera, Zapanta, Pangelinan, Hensley, and Sasamoto is veteran Dannie Robles, who accomplished the feat last year.