PH bet Barrientos stuns top-seed foe, cops Asian Tenpin’s Masters gold

By Peter Atencio

ART Barrientos of the Philippines toppled top seed Blake Walsh for the Masters gold medal in the 21st Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Bangkok, Thailand. The third-seeded Barrientos ruled the 16-game series after striking a total of 443 pins to Walsh’s 349 in the double-round finals.

The 19-year-old Barrientos reached the championship round after getting past second seed Lee Myeongchol of Ko- rea, 205-191, in the stepladder semifinals.

“I just focused on my game, frame by frame. That’s my shot execution. Whatever happens, happens,” said Barrientos, a student of Far Eastern University on Sports Radio.

In the finals, Barrientos led Walsh, 206-180 in the first match, and before once again taking charge, 237-169 in the second match.

Barrientos, who also claimed the boys’ team gold the other day to hand the Philippines the boys’ overall honors.

Singapore International Open champion Zach Sales Ramin backed up Barrientos in the fight for the boys’ title with teammates Stephen Luke Diwa and Marc Dylan Custodio.

Jojo Canare and American consultant Joe Slowinski called the shots for Team Philippines.

Walsh settled for a silver medal, starting the day in fifth place after winning 7 of 8 games in the first of two blocks

The Australian was 32 pins behind the bronze medal position on Day 1.

AMMAN, FUHEIS (Jordan)—The Philippines booked the first flight to the Division B Semi-Finals following a dominant showing against hosts

Jordan, 106-58, in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship 2023

Wednesday evening at the Prince Hamzah Sport Hall.

Three consecutive three-pointers courtesy of Scarlett Mercado, Sophia Canindo, and Nevaeh Smith midway into the second quarter sparked the one-sided affair as Gilas Women U16 went on to collect their third win in three outings to lock the no. 1 seed of Group A.

It will be the Philippines’ second straight trip to the Semis, this time hoping to redeem themselves after losing in the same stage of last year’s U16 competitions also held in Amman to Samoa, who eventually won it all and earned the promotion to Division A of this year’s meet.

Shannon Sayson led Gilas with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 steals for an efficiency rating 29.0. Ava Fajardo, a part of last year’s team, poured 17 points, 4 boards, and 5 dimes.

Smith had 15 points, Ryan Nair made 11 points and 7 assists, while Mercado and Demicah Arnaldo added 10 apiece for the Philippines, who dished out 27 assists and collected 28 steals.

The Jordanians, meanwhile, were carried by the 26 points and 7 rebounds of Zena Alkarain in the defeat —their second in a row after Tuesday’s heartbreaker to Hong Kong. Photo and story from FIBA.com