Sletba president Liza Zapanta with the winners in the Masters event (from left) Art Barrientos (4th), Marc Custodio (2nd), Kenneth Chua (champion), Ivan Malig (3rd), and Francis Jose (5th).

CAINTA, Rizal — One of Team Pilipinas’ top bowlers, Kenneth Chua, won the thrilling Open Masters event which capped the 26th Sletba-Liza Zapanta Open Championships last Sunday.

Chua beat two other national team players–Marc Custodio and Ivan Malig–in an amazing show of top quality bowling at the Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall Bowling Centre in Cainta, Rizal.

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Chua and Custodio paced the tough field of 33 finalists during the 10-game series, with Malig closing in on them only in the 9th and 10 games of the elimination round.

That’s when Malig unleashed a hot streak, rolling a 265 in the 9th and a perfect game in the 10th. He nearly achieved a back-to-back perfect game, a feat quite difficult to achieve. Malig made his 300-game on lanes 13-14 using a 15-pound “Idol” ball by Roto Grip.

Kenneth Chua: Torrid pace

Chua and Malig then faced off for a single game in the stepladder stage. The two fought almost evenly for the first seven frames, but Chua finally prevailed, 216-204, to gain the right to face Custodio for the title.

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Still fired up, Chua kept a torrid pace to score a total of 491 against Custodio’s 440 over two games, clinching the Open Masters title. This is the second time Chua won the Sletba Open. He was the champion of the 2015 annual event.

Another Team Pilipinas standout and Sletba member Art Barrientos finished 4th, followed by Francis Jose of the Pasig Bowling Association at 5th.

“Swerte, swerte lang (luck, it was luck),” Chua exclaimed after the games.

Ivan Malig with his “Idol” by Roto Grip

But luck didn’t have anything much to do with how they played. The averages of the top five finishers were proof of the top-notch bowling that kept the crowd at the center on the edge of their seats.

At the end of the elimination round, Custodio had an average score of 238, Malig had 224, Chua had 223, and Barrientos and Jose both with 214.

Sletba president Liza Zapanta thanked the Philippine Bowling Federation for sanctioning the annual tournament and the Philippine Sports Commission for its support.

She also thanked the sponsors and expressed elation over the participation of 289 players from 28 PBF-affiliated associations, both numbers a record for a Sletba event.