KUWAIT CITY, July 23: Out to defend the Men’s Masters, Men’s Doubles and Ladies Singles Event title they won last year, the Philippine Bowling Association in Kuwait (PBAK) is now gearing up for the 14th GCC All Filipino Bowling Tournament that will be held at the Dubai International Bowling Center in Dubai, UAE on Sept 12, 2011. This year’s edition of this highly anticipated tenpin bowling event will be hosted by the Sharjah Filipino Bowling Club headed by Butch Vargas. As part of its preparation, PBAK recently completed the final phase of the selection via the 10-game series qualifying round. Topping their respective divisions after 10 games were defending Men’s Masters Champion Edwin Latoja and Emma Gatus who led most of the way in the Ladies Division. The top 4 bowlers in each Division will join the two seeded bowlers namely, Mike Garcia and Tony Zuleta in the Men’s Division and Singles Event defending Champion Elvie Sotio and Jane Nance in the Ladies Division who topped the first phase of the qualifying to form the PBAK Men and Ladies Team-1.

During the first phase of the selection process all the aspirants were required to bowl a certain number of games from the different individual tournaments organized by PBAK. The top two bowlers in this stage automatically make it to Team-1 while the rest of the qualifiers will have to bowl in the 10-game series second round to determine the remaining four team members of Team-1 in both divisions. The rest of the teams will then be formed based on the final rankings after 10 games. In the Men’s Division, suiting up to contest the remaining slots in Team-1 were Toto Abear, Kiko Andaya, Bert Pantanilla, Dan Montano, Al Belarmino, Obet Cabrera, Ric Marimla, Edwin de Mesa, Rico Baluyot, Rene Marzan, Edwin Latoja, Bong Bermillo, Ed Mendoza, Mandy Manalo, Romy Fermil, Noel Bejar, Rudy Zablan, JR Sabado, Mar Evangelista, Bobby Ferrera, Bong Autida, Aldin Avila and Al Bautista.

After the opening 2-game block, Mar Evangelista who rolled a 246 in game two was in command with 425 pin falls. Not far behind the early leader were Rudy Zablan (396) and Edwin Latoja (393) followed in by Kiko Andaya, JR Sabado and Ed Mendoza with 374, 370 and 369 in that order. Like a fully heated diesel engine, Edwin Latoja made his move in the next two games where he bowled games of 209 and 198 to snatch the lead from Mar Evangelista 800-787. Bong Bermillo meanwhile rocketed to third place with his 785 after submitting identical 217 scores. Fourth at this stage was Romy Fermil with 748 towing Ed Mendoza (745) and Bobby Ferrera (731). Another explosive 255 in game 5 followed by a 219 in game 6 put Edwin Latoja way out in front with a total 6-game series score of 1274 pin falls. Bong Bermillo (1171) continued his steady rise in the ranking by moving up to second followed by Romy Fermil (1133) and Ed Mendoza (1132). Going to the last four games, Edwin Latoja overpowered the rest of the field with a superb showing reminiscent of his Masters Event win in the 13th AFBT. By closing out with games of 193, 226, 212, 233 and a final tally of 2138, Edwin Latoja earned a shot for a back to back masters title. Also making it to PBAK Team-1were Bong Bermillo-1969, Ed Mendoza-1966 and Mandy Manalo-1887.

Moving on to the Ladies Division, the contenders for the four PBAK Team-1 slots were Mina Andaya, Norie Sairat, Pearl Virly, Sonia Mathews, Emma Gatus, Pilar Villanueva, Janet Shaikh and Liza Catapia. Through her opening games of 177 and 214 Sonia Mathews (391) had a taste of the lead followed by Emma Gatus (360), Mina Andaya (345), Janet Shaikh (332) and Pilar Villanueva (331). A 200 in game 3 coupled with a modest 158 in game 4 helped Emma Gatus (718) grabbed the upper hand with Pilar Villanueva (706) who sizzled with a 190 and 185 close behind in second.
Midway the 10-game series event, Emma Gatus (1090) was able to widen her lead over Josie Ilarina (1023) who jumped to second after garnering 189 and 207 scores in game 5 and 6 and Pilar Villanueva (1020) who slipped down to third. Although leader Emma Gatus remained unmoved from the top, the rest of the contenders were like a deck of cards being reshuffled after each and every completed game. After two more games, the remaining contenders were Emma Gatus-1438, Janet Shaikh-1372, Pilar Villanueva-1346, Josie Ilarina-1323 and Mina Andaya-1295. Despite losing her touch in the last two games of the series, Emma Gatus nevertheless emerged on top with 1734 pin falls to her credit and making it to the ladies first team were Pilar Villanueva-1713, Janet Shaikh-1690 and Liza Catapia-1660.