Las Vegas — The Philippines’ bid for honors in the 54th Bowling World Cup international finals ended yesterday when national titlists Merwin Tan and Marie Alexis Sy failed to advance to the quarterfinals at Sam’s Town Center here.
Tan, 19-year-old Marist School student, finished only 11th in the men’s division with a total score of 6721 pinfalls in 32 games, while Sy landed in 19th spot in the women’s competition with 6321 also in 32 games.
Only the top eight finishers out of 24 qualifiers in each division remained in the race for the prestigious individual event.
Five Filipino bowlers — Paeng Nepomuceno, the late Lita dela Rosa, Bong Coo, C.J. Suarez, and Krizziah Tabora — have so far won the crown. Nepomuceno carries the distinction of being the only four-time men’s champion while Tabora was last year’s women’s titlist.
American Kyle Troup shot a perfect 300 game yesterday as he posted 7519 in 32 games for a 208-pin lead over Finland’s Osku Palermaa.
Indonesia’s Nadia Pramanik Nurmaina tallied 6719 to overtake Malaysian Li Jane Sin as the women’s frontrunner with 6719 for a 5-pin lead.
The remaining contenders are:
Women — Maria Rodriguez, Colombia (6650), Karen Marcano, Venezuela (6637), Nadine Geissler, Germany (6634), Diana Zavjalova, Latvia (6606), Shannon O’Keefe, USA (6593) and Daphne Tan, Singapore (266).
Men — Ryan Reid, Canada (7175), Sam Cooley, Australia (7161), Yannaphon Larpapapharat, Thailand (7041), Andres Gomez, Colombia (6982), Ryan Leonard Lalisang, Indonesia (6935) and Marcelo Suartz, Brazil (6916).