FILIPINO bowlers struck big in the sixth and final game yesterday, surging past South Korea to complete a thrilling come-from behind victory and rule the men’s team event in the 21st Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Trailing the erstwhile pacesetting South Koreans by 200 pins entering the final game, Marc Dylan Custodio exploded with 277 pinfalls, Zach Sales Ramin had 253, while Art Barrientos added 220 to secure the gold with a 4933 tally, counting Stephen Diwa’s 193, at the Blu-0 Rhythm and Bowl Center.
They emerged champions by just 11 pins, relegating the South Korean quartet of Baek Seungmin, Lee Meyongcheol, Baek Sungwoo and Park Soowan to the silver medal with a 4922 total. Sungwoo and Soowan had taken the doubles gold three days ago.
“So far, we’re still in the moment but this is so unreal. But we’re so super happy that we never gave up and did our best for the team,” said Custodio, 19, relishing his first mint in international play after bagging the doubles bronze medal with Diwa in the World Youth meet in Helsingborg, Sweden last year.
With the championship on the line, Custodio said they heeded the advice of American coach Joe Slowinski not to look at the scores and focus on their game so as not to be distracted “and it really worked for us.”
A sophomore accounting student at La Salle, Custodio carried the load for the Pinoy bowlers, coming up with seven strikes in a row from the sixth game onwards after a spare in the fifth, the last one giving them the slim winning edge.
“Sobrang saya naming lahat. Lahat ng ginawa naming sacrifices and hard work these past few months was worth it,” noted the bespectacled Barrientos, who also won his first gold in an international competition.
Fresh from his men’s singles triumph in the Singapore Open last month, Ramin, the youngest member of the squad at 17, was doubly ecstatic in contributing to the golden effort in the outing supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“This achievement is super good. I wasn’t really able to jell with the team since I live in Singapore but we were really able to come together in Thailand and do well. It is a really good feeling,” said the tall but baby-faced bowler.
His father, Rudi, who accompanied him to Bangkok, said it was a sensational comeback victory considering how far behind the Pinoy keglers began last Sunday.
“Sobrang come-from-behind. The bowlers started 14th out of 17 teams at the start of the team event and were fourth yesterday entering today’s last three games. Then they were 200 pins behind going into the sixth game,” noted the elder Ramin.
“But they really held well as a team and the system of coach Joe really works. Our big kudos to both coach and bowlers,” he added.
Still playing at press time in the women’s team event was the quartet of Danielle Lazo, Danielle Escolano, Kassandra Denise Yap and Norel Nuevo, who were running third (2173) after three games last Sunday.
As a result of their sterling showing, Barrientos, Custodio and Ramin all made it to the top 16 bowlers who advanced to the Masters finals.
With the results of the singles, doubles and team event, Barrientos was in fourth spot with 3763, Custodio fifth (3763) and Ramin 13th (3679) in the grueling Masters event that starts today.
