SEVERAL of the island’s best senior bowlers capped off their Liberation Day weekend by participating in the Guam Senior Bowler of the Lanes monthly edition championship on Sunday at the Central Lanes bowling center.
In an unexpected trip to the finals, tournament 7th-seeded Jhun Viray was set to take on top-seeded Nestor Valencia. Viray was hoping to prevent his opponent from clinching his second Guam senior bowling title. When the match came to a conclusion, Viray was successful and was crowned the July champion after picking up a 229 (+13 pins handicap) to 183 (+17 pins handicap) victory.
In the qualifying rounds, Valencia topped the field after a six-game qualifying total of 1263 total pin fall with handicap. The shootout rounds came up with a couple of close matches as 9th-seeded Rick Torres claimed a one-pin victory over 10th-seeded Ben Taimanglo and 8th-seeded Edgar Caper. Meanwhile, Viray began his title run with a convincing 26-pin victory over 5th seed Mary Pangelinan and 6th-seeded Cindy Reyes.
The quarterfinals witnessed a very intense match that came down to the wire with Viray taking a narrow four-pin win over 4th seed Norbie Da Silva. Another upset in the quarterfinals saw the 3rd-seeded Pat Roberto closing the door and dethroning last month’s champion Torres. Roberto then fell to Valencia in game one of the semifinals while Viray upset Rudy Palaganas, which set up the final match with Valencia for the championship.
The match was a seesaw battle until Viray managed three strikes in a row starting in the fifth through seventh frame. Valencia barely kept himself in the match as he struggled with spares over the same frames. Moments later, Viray finally clinched the match with a strike in the final frame to lay claim to the monthly bowling title.
Guam Senior Bowlers of the Lane will resume action on Aug. 12 at Central Lanes beginning at 11 a.m. The monthly event is open to all bowlers aged 50 and above or will be 50 by Dec. 31 this year.
