Sizzling Rivera dominates Ramadan bowlfest

Flashing his old brilliance, former world masters champion Biboy Rivera of the Philippines scored a perfect game en route to ruling the Ramadan Open masters finals at the Khalifa Bowling Center in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates Thursday night. The bespectacled Rivera easily topped the masters qualifiers with a 237 average then capped his impressive performance by crushing former World Cup titlist Saeed Al Hajri of Qatar, 267-195, in the stepladder finals. The 35-year-old national team mainstay pocketed the equivalent of P300,000 in his finest outing yet since winning the masters gold medal in the 2006 World Men’s Tenpin Bowling Championship in Busan, South Korea .

“I dedicate this victory to my country," Rivera said in an email to Philippine Bowling Congress (PBC) secretary-general Bong Coo. On the way to the championship, Rivera nearly achieved the incredible feat of shooting back-to-back perfect games on the same night last Thursday, opening his second block with a 300-297 that vaulted him to the top of the 16-game qualifying series. Using a 15-pound Hammer Jigsaw ball, he rolled his perfect game on lanes 5 and 6 of the sprawling Khalifa Bowling Center to take the top seeding in the stepladder finals. He finished 140 pins comfortably ahead of runner up Pat Healy of the US, another former World Cup champ and tagged as the early favorite in the event featuring 20 top international bowlers and four crack keglers from the Middle East. Al Hajri, the No. 4 seed, nipped Healy, 233-214, to earn the right to face Rivera for the championship. Rivera’s national teammate, Chester King, finished 10th overall in the event. Actually, Rivera has been wowing ‘em in the bowling-crazy Gulf state since Sept. 13 when he rolled his first perfect game there during a separate event, the Dubai International Bowling Center Open, a short flight from Abu Dhabi. For this, he used a 15-pound Track 715A ball on lanes 31 and 32 to highlight a sizzling three-game series of 300-265-237 in the qualifying competitions. While there are no verifiable records, Rivera might just be the first bowler in history to record two perfect games in separate tournaments and in different venues within a span of five days against tough opponents. Rivera was scheduled to play in the finals of the DIBC Open in Dubai Friday night. - GMANews.TV