Basa, Kuwaiti lass bag Graded Masters titles in RP Open bowling

MANILA, Philippines – Local bet Gene Basa shared the limelight with comely Hanadi Al Mezezail of Kuwait Saturday in the Graded Masters finals of the 38th Philippine International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships at Paeng’s Midtown Bowl. PBAP-Bowlmart’s Basa bowled a 12-game series of 2,499 to capture the men’s Graded Masters, a win that netted him the top prize of P90,000. SLETBA’S RJ San Diego settled for runner-up honors after shooting 2,455 and pocketed P40,000 while UAE’s Fuaad Almas was third with 2,405, earning P20,000 for his performance. Kuwaiti national player Mezazail, a 33-year-old Kuwait Airways ground staffer, made her maiden stint in the kegfest memorable by overcoming a close fight with TBAM-Prima-Metro Pacific’s Ellen Ramos to rule the distaff side. Winner of the Cairo Open masters plum a few months ago, Mezazail posted a 12-game series of 2,265 to nose out Ramos (2,233) and TBAM-Prima Portal’s Girlie Solis (2,166) for the tiara. For her feat, Mezazail received the P50,000 champions purse while runners up Ramos and Solis got P25,000 and P15,000, respectively. Meanwhile, action in the tourney organized by the Philippine Bowling Congress and sanctioned by World Tenpin Bowling Association shifts to the finals of the men’s and ladies’ Open masters competitions on Monday. Noteworthy during Saturday's first round was the showing of bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno, who advanced to the next stage after showing flashes of his old brilliance in finishing No. 2. Nepomuceno logged an eight-game series of 1,804 pinfalls, 91 pins behind frontrunning Zaid Izlan of Malaysia (1,895). American Tim Mack, the 2002 world men’s championship gold medalist, also survived the first-round cut by finishing strong in his later games, placing third with a 1,744 output. Defending champion Benshir Layoso bucked a sluggish start and likewise qualified for the next round by placing seventh with a card of 1,714. The 12 bowlers from Saturday’s round 1 will be joined by the No. 1 to No. 6-ranked players from the local and foreign qualifying pools, with all of them starting from scratch in playing another eight games to decide the top six bowlers in the stepladder finals. PBAP-Bowlmart RP’s Apple Posadas topped the first round of the ladies’ masters by scoring an eight-game aggregate of 1,744, while TBAM-Prima RP’s Kim Lao was 47 pins off at No. 2 (1,697). Malaysian Fatin Syazliana (1,678) came in third. The 12 female qualifiers from the first round join the three top finishers in the local and foreign qualifying pool in the second phase, where they will also bowl eight games from scratch to pick the six bowlers in the stepladder championships. - GMANews.TV