Two perfect games, two bowlers above 250average on Day 6
30th October 2003World trios champions Dino Castillo and Liza Cultario, both rolled perfect games on a day of high scoring on day six of the 36th Singapore Open.
Castillo, who is sponsored by Ebonite, got his 300 game in the morning session, minutes after Malaysia’s Eric Ang (299) and former PBA bowler Purvis Granger (296) both missed the perfect game on their last ball. In comparison to Castillo who has over 50 sanctioned perfect games, Storm-sponsored Cultario’s perfect game was her maiden one.
“My only perfect games in the past was in practice,” said Cultario whose 300 game came on lanes 17 and 18. “I just told myself to slow down my movement and really focus. This was a great experience. Getting a perfect game is wonderful, but I also hope to win this tournament.”
If no one else repeats the 300 feat, Castillo and Cultario will be able to share the $10,000 cash prize with Thai Teerapol Sajaraktrakul, who was the first to notch up a perfect game last night.
“Well, if I have to share the perfect game prize, I’m glad it is with a Filipino,” said Castillo, who is half-Filipino and half-Spanish. “This is my first time here and I am starting to get used to the lanes. All the pins are not stacked in the same way and it’s important to look for the pin position. I had a ball change yesterday and my momentum had been building up.”
Despite a 300 game, Castillo failed to improve on his best MQ score so far of 905 and is only third in the mixed pool at press-time. All top 14 bowlers in the overseas pool have already surpassed 910.
2002 Asian Bowling Tour Grand Slam champion Granger meantime made up for the disappointment of missing a perfect game (296) by scoring a sensational a 1032 series (201, 278, 296, 257) to top all qualifiers.
“The moment I release the ball, I knew it was bad,” said Granger, the current leader on the Aviva Asian Bowling Tour. “But I am happy with overall performance so far. I got a new Storm ball and I like what it’s giving me. My confidence is up. So let’s see what happens.”
Malaysia’s 16-year-old youth bowler, meantime, Eric Ang, had a sizzling 1,022 series (256, 299, 234, 233) to overtake previous leader Ryan Lalisang (987) to be second among all qualifiers at press time.
It was also a good day for the Malaysian bowler Choy Poh Lai who jumped to second among all qualifiers with a 941, just four pins behind overnight leader Kirsten Penny of England (945).
Philippines Cultario, who had the tournament’s third perfect game, had a 918 series to push Asian Games champion Shalin Zukifli (914) to fourth in the overseas pool.
There were no major changes in the local bowl. Faizal Chew remained top with his 978 series in the men’s MQ, while Kang stayed top in the women’s MQ with 941.
Qualification continues till Friday. Only the top 42 men (top 14 overseas, top 14 local, top 14 mixed) and the top 29 women (top 10 overseas, top 10 local, top 9 mixed) will make the cut for Saturday’s Masters final. Malaysia’s Wendy Chai do not have to qualify as she is the defending champion. Chai will be aiming to become the first bowler to win three Singapore Opens in a row.