With singles gold medalist Merwin Tan leading the way, the men’s bowling team sparkled Thursday, adding a second victory to the Philippine campaign in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi Vietnam by ruling the team-of-four event.
Three days after Tan ended the country’s golden drought in bowling in the biennial games, the Philippine flag was raised and the national anthem was heard anew at the Royal City Hanoi Bowling Lanes as the Pinoy keglers dominated the action, finishing with 5275 pinfalls, 113 pins ahead of runner-up Malaysia.
The gold was the Philippines’ 39th overall, counting the mint delivered by the women’s squad in the Wild Rift event of esports late Wednesday.
Tan, a 22-year-old left-hander, rolled 1411 pinfalls for a six-game average of 235.17, the best among all the competitors in the six-team field, while Christian Dychangco backed him up with 1377 pinfalls and an average of 229.50, including a tournament-high 278 in the sixth and final game.
Ivan Malig carded 1285 pinfalls for an average of 214.17 while the fourth member of the winning team, Patrick Neil Nuqui, shot 1202 for an average of 200.33.
Malaysia finished second with a total of 5161 pinfalls, while Singapore bagged the bronze with 4963. Indonesia finished fourth (4890), followed by Thailand (4691), and Vietnam (4570).
Women’s silver medalist Alexis Sy will lead the country’s quest for a double gold team win in the distaff side later Thursday.
