Angeles tops May Masters; Zapanta nears 300

From left, Simon Manacop, Raymond Angeles, Raymond Zapanta, and Ador Dimaano pose with their trophies after winning the team event in the 34th CNMI May Masters Tournament held over the weekend at the Saipan Bowling Center.
(Contributed Photo)

Raymond Angeles ruled the men’s singles event, while Raymond Zapanta flirted with a perfect game in the 34th CNMI May Masters Tournament held over the weekend at the Saipan Bowling Center.

Angeles bested 29 other participants in the men’s singles contest after collecting 626 pins in three games. He started slow with 173 in Game 1 before coming up with 200-plus pins in the last two games (244 and 209) for a 9-pin win over Melvin Aldan (617). Angeles posted the winning scores last Saturday when he returned to SBC after a fifth-best 557 (183, 183, and 191) total during the opener of the competition last Friday. Bowlers were allowed to play on both days of the tournament, but only the higher score was counted.

Joining Angeles and Aldan in the Top 3 was Robert Talavera, who had a three-game total of 583 pins. Talavera registered 185 and 193 in the first two games to boost his chances for the men’s singles crown, but dropped to third after getting 205 against the 266 of Aldan. Aldan’s scores in the first two games were 200 and 151.

After securing the men’s singles win, Angeles added another trophy to his collection as he prevailed in the team event. He was with Simon Manacop, Ador Dimaano and Raymond Zapanta and they compiled 2,184 pinfalls to finish ahead of seven other squads.

Zapanta led the winning quartet with his 649 pinfalls, including a near perfect Game 2 (299). Angeles tallied 559, while Manacop and Dimaano registered 529 and 447, respectively. The Zapanta-anchored team was one of the three squads to make at least 2,000 pinfalls in the event. The two other ones were the foursomes of Manny Tenorio, Lito Teodoro, Ronald Batac, and Roger De Guzman (2,016) and Raul and Ariel Dumapit, Ronald Epan, and Bernard Paraiso (2,003).

In other results, Dimaano and Manacop ruled the doubles contest, while Zapanta clinched the All Events title.

Manacop had a field best 651 (241, 199, and 211) in the doubles and adding Dimaano’s 454 (149, 157, and 148), the duo ended up with 1,105 pins, just four more against runners-up Zapanta and Angeles. Zapanta earned 583 (202, 2012, and 169), while Angeles recorded 518 (149, 213, and 156) for their 1, 101. Rusty Musca and Edward Baluyan finished third after combining for 1,085 with the former contributing 496 and the latter having 589.

In the All Events, Zapanta’s 1,772 edged the 1,728 and 1,634 of Manacop and Angeles. Baluyan (1,627) and Musca (1,619) completed the Top 5.