MERWIN Tan ended the country’s seven-year gold medal drought in the Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships by topping the boys’ singles event on Sunday in Kuching City, Sarawak.
Tan, 19, won the gold by hitting 1,352 pinfalls in six rounds at the Megalanes Sarawak to beat Australia’s William Clark, who had 1,334, and South Korea’s Park Sang-Hyeok, who had 1,326 in the tournament featuring 40 boys and 36 girls.
“I just did my best in every game, every frame and every shot. I really needed to score at least a 200 in the last game and I’m really happy I was able to do just that,” said Tan, who is playing his last Asian Youth Championship. “This gold medal is a blessing for me."
The last time the Philippine youth team won a gold medal in the Asian tournament was in 2012 when Alexis Sy snatched the gold medal in girls’ Masters event in Egypt.
Tan, who just graduarted from Marist school, was also a member of the team that placed third in the boys’ team event in the 2018 World Youth Championship in Detroit.
Tan will also play in the boys’ doubles, team and possibly in the masters events.
Kenzo Umali, Patrick Nuqui and Kayle Abad are the other members of the boys squad, while Bea Hernandez, Norel Nuevo and Grace Gella are the girls team members. The teams are coached by Biboy Rivera and Jojo Canare.
Umali placed tenth in the boys’ singles with 1,261 pinfalls while Alyssa Ty ended 18th among the girls’ singles participants with 1,092 pinfalls.
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