19th October, Tamuning: Cecilia Yap of the Philippines successfully defended the women's Masters title of the 2nd Guam International Open at Central Lanes Bowling Centre while Frederick Ong won the men's.

Top-seed and defending champion, Cecilia Yap of Philippines-Bowlmart defeated 2nd-seed and winner of the previous women's stepladder finals match, Felymar Mandapat of Guam 168-166 in a match where both bowlers struggled.

Yap started with a split in the first frame but came back with a double strike in the 4th anf 5th frame to open up a slight lead but misfortune struck again in the 6th when she had an opened frame. Mandapat did not seize the opportunity to take the match when she missed pin-10 in the eight.

Yap successfully retained the title she won lst year and came home with US$1,500 in prize money while Mandapat settled for 2nd.

Singapore's Catherine Kang (204) finished 3rd and Yap Seok Kim (187) 4th after loosing the second match to Mandapat's 233. 4th-seed Seok Kim took the first match with 210 knocking out 5th-seed Evelyn Chan (197) and Hong Kong's Phoebe Kong (209).

In the men's division, top-seed Frederick Ong of the Philippines emerged the champion after he defeated defending champion and World Championship Bronze medalist, Duane Camacho of Guam 180-160. The 32nd Philippines Open youth champion pocketed the US$3,000 in top prize after outclassing a strong field of 36 bowlers in the Men's Open Masters finals.

In the first stepladder match, 6th-seed Jay Leon Guerrero of Guam ousted 4th-seed Shaun Ng (195) of Singapore and Norisson Catbagan (154) of Guam with 254. But Jay Leon (177) and 2nd-seed Aaron Elliot (144) of Guam were no match for Duane Camacho who scored 225 to take the match. Aaron, however finished 3rd followed by Jay Leon in 4th while Shaun Ng and Norisson Catbagan took 5th and 6th spot respectively.

For further information, visit www.udctan.com under the Guam Bowling Congress tab.

Story by Joey C. Miranda III, Secretary General/GBC and photos courtesy of MTBC.

18th October, Tamuning: Guam's Bill Parkinson and Filipina Cecilia Yap led the Men's and Women's Open Masters 1st Block finals of the 2nd Guam International Open at Central Lanes Bowling Centre.

Bill Parkinson, Guam's representative to the 2003 AMF Bowling World Cup, held a 3-pin margin over defending champion and World Championship Bronze medalist, Duane Camacho 1743 to 1730.

Parkinson rolled lines of 201, 204, 195, 247, 226, 192 and 232 while Camacho staged a set of 174, 222, 182, 222, 235, 246, 215 and 234. Shaun Ng of Singapore took third spot with 1712 follwed by Norison Catbagan of Guam with 1699.

Guam's youth team member Aaron Elliott bowled the second perfect game of the tournament on the second game of the first block Masters finals finishing fifth with a 1695 total.

Jay Leon Guerrero of Team Bowlmart Guam rounded off in top six with a 1691 total. Strong on his heels were Team Bowlmart Philippines' Frederick Ong (1667), Chris Messmer of Team Andersen (1645), Guam youth team member John John Ada (1638) and Guam's senior member Buddy Saludo (1620).

In the women's division, World Gold medalist and defending champion Cecilia Yap bowled an 8-game set of 1620 to overtake local youth bowler Felymar Mandapat in the last game of the finals for the pole position. Mandapat led the field by two pins from Yap before the last game where she bowled a 190 to finish in third place with a 1599 total, while Catherine Kang of Singapore moved up from third to finish second and trailed Yap by ten pins.

Yap Seok Kim of Team Bowlmart Singapore finished the day in fourth place with a 1572 total while Graded Classic champion Sheena Go of Team Bowlmart Philippines held on to 5th place with a 1519 total and Pan Perry of Guam in sixth place with 1474. The chase for the sixth slot began with Evelyn Chan of Singapore (1470), Marie Velasco and Shellee Javier of Guam (1422) and Phoebe Kong of Hong Kong rounded off the top 10 with 1410 total.

The final eight games of the Men and Women's Masters finals continues on Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. with the top six bowlers from both divisions advancing to the elimination rounds to declare the champions of the 2nd Guam International Open. The men are competing for the first-place prize of $3,000.00 while the women's field is going after $1,500.00.

For further information, visit www.udctan.com under the Guam Bowling Congress tab.

Story by Joey C. Miranda III, Secretary General/GBC and photos courtesy of MTBC.

17th October, Tamuning: JD Castro of Guam captured the Pepsi Youth Masters title of the 2nd Guam International Open at Central Lanes Bowling Centre while runner-up Sheena Go bagged the Graded Classic crown yesterday.

Castro, who scored a perfect game during his qualifying rounds in the men's Open division and currently leads the qualifying table, took the title after defeating yesterday's Graded Classic Masters champion, Sheena Go 193-156 in the final stepladder match.

6th-seed Sheen Go of Guam snatched the win in the first Youth Masters stepladder match amongst 4th-seed Quinten Fincham (Guam-129) and 5th-seed Jason Nathan Yeong (Singapore-164) with a 180 score. Sheen went on to knock out 2nd-seed Felymar Mandapat (Guam-217) and 3rd-seed Frederick Ong (Philippines-191) with another fine display scoring 206 plus her 15 pins handicap before going down to in-form Castro.

Sheena, however was happier yesterday when she defeated top-seed Buddy Saludo of Guam in two games 216 and 235 to Buddy's 138 and 214 to bag the Graded Classic Masters title. Sheena was seeded second when she ousted 3rd-seed Ray Manibusan (202) and winner of the first match Greg Fuller (173) with 213.

4th-seed Greg Fuller took the first match defeating 5th-seed Chris Messmer (180) and 6th-seed Ric Mesa (140) with 218.

Meanwhile, Felymar Mandapat from Guam still topped the Women's Open Masters qualifying local pool leaderboard with a score of 933 followed by Marie Velasco in second with 738. Third in the table was Shellee Javier who scored 701 while Lisa Duenas took over 3rd spot with 677.

In the overseas pool, AVIVA ABT 2001 Singapore leg champion, Yap Seok Kim of Singapore topped the table with 904 on lines of 224, 279, 189 and 212. Catherine Kang of Singapore finished second on 883 while Evelyn Chan is just 1 pin behind Catherine on 882.

Graded Classic champion, Sheena Go (PHI-843), ABT Philippines leg 1st runner-up Cecilia Yap (PHI-837) and Phoebe Kong (HKG-812) rounded up the top 10 from 8th to 10th respectively.

The top 13 local, top 7 overseas and top 16 mixed pool men qualifiers will make the Masters finals scheduled to be played on the 17th October while the top 10 local, top 10 overseas and top 8 mixed pool women qualifiers will make the Masters finals.

For further information, visit www.udctan.com under the Guam Bowling Congress tab.

Photos courtesy of Joey C. Miranda III, Secretary General/GBC and MTBC.

15th October, Tamuning: JD Castro of Guam scored the first perfect game to lead the Men's Open Masters qualifying table of the 2nd Guam International Open at Central Lanes Bowling Centre.

The 19 year-old student from Chalan Pago achieved the perfect feat of 300 in the first game of his qualifying round and then rounded off with lines of 234, 256 and 187 for a total of 977.

JD who participated in the World Championship in September, leads the local pool by 22 pins ahead of second-place Norisson Catbagan with 955 followed by Ray Manibusan who scored 889.

In the overseas pool, Singapore's S. Segeran, who also scored a perfect game in the 1st Indonesia International Open, topped the table with 916 assuring him of a place in the finals. Segeran failed to make the Indonesian final despite the perfect game he scored.

Singapore's Jason Nathan Yeong occupied second spot with 851 with Kegel Asia's general manager, Yap Kok Wee bowling for PBAP-Bowlmart in third with 834. AVIVA ABT 2002 China leg champion, Carl de Vries from Singapore is 4th with 809 while Shuan Ng, aslo from Singapore took 5th place with 788.

Meanwhile, in the women's division, Felymar Mandapat from Guam topped the local pool leaderboard with a score of 933. She had lines of 217, 245, 222 and 249 for an impressive average of 233.25. Second in the table was Shellee Javier who scored 701 with Fran Gatan in 3rd spot with 676.

In the overseas pool, AVIVA ABT 2001 Singapore leg champion, Yap Seok Kim of Singapore topped the table with 904 on lines of 224, 279, 189 and 212. Catherine Kang of Singapore finished second on 883 while Evelyn Chan is just 1 pin behind Catherine on 882.

Sheena Go (PHI-843), ABT Philippines leg 1st runner-up Cecilia Yap (PHI-837) and Veronica Wong (HKG-783) rounded up the top 10 from 8th to 10th respectively.

The top 13 local, top 7 overseas and top 16 mixed pool men qualifiers will make the Masters finals scheduled to be played on the 17th October while the top 10 local, top 10 overseas and top 8 mixed pool women qualifiers will make the Masters finals.

For further information, visit www.udctan.com under the Guam Bowling Congress tab.

Photos courtesy of Joey C. Miranda III, Secretary General/GBC and MTBC.