Pinoy bronze medallists Nina De Vera and Bea Hernandez of Philippines (the pair on the lower right) with Girl's Doubles gold medallists Yang Da Som and Lee Jung Mim of Korea and Silver medallist, Charlene Lim and Jermaine Seah of Singapore.

MANILA -- First-time partners Bea Hernandez and Nina de Vera produced the country’s first medal in the 19th Asian Youth Bowling Championships by bagging the girls doubles bronze medal at the Coronado Lanes inside the EDSA Starmall in Mandaluyong on Tuesday.

In their debut as a tandem in international competition, Hernandez and De Vera stunned the crack 15-nation field by wresting the lead midway through the six-game series before slowing down in the home stretch, and hanging on in salvaging the bronze with a combined tally of 2322.

The Pinay duo finished 208 pins behind the powerhouse South Korean squad of Yang Da Som and Lee Jung Min, who teamed up for 2530 pinfalls in securing their country’s third gold in four events of the tournament organized by the Philippine Bowling Federation and sanctioned by the Asian Bowling Federation and World Bowling.

Singapore’s Charlene Lim and Jermaine Seah, running eighth with two games left, sizzled in the fifth and sixth games to snatch the silver medal with a 2345 aggregate in the tournament.

“We were just concentrated on our game and refused to be bothered by the crowd,” said the bespectacled Hernandez, 17, who carried her squad at the start with high scores of 244, 210 and 267, respectively, in the first three games.

“All the hard work and sacrifice somehow paid off,” echoed De Vera, a Team Prima mainstay, following her debut in the competition.



“I am proud of these girls. Hindi sila bumigay even it was their first international competition together,” said national girls coach Jojo Canare. “I hope this breakthrough will help us in the remaining events we have.”

“Bea told me last Monday after her poor outing ‘babawi ako dad,’ and I am so proud she did,” said Assistant Solicitor General Bernard Hernandez, who took time off from his busy schedule together with wife Myriam to watch their daughter compete and bag her first medal in international play.

With the younger Fernandez waxing hot early and De Vera playing steadily, the local pair surged to the front after three games with a 1289 output, 28 pins ahead of the second running Yang-Lee duo, who had 1257 at that point.

Bowling under medium oil lane conditions, Fernandez was seemingly untouchable at that stage, rolling a three-game series of 711 for an eye-popping 240.33 average.

The fortunes changed, however, for the young kegler with a switch in lanes, slumping to her worst score of 123 in the fourth game, although she corrected her slide with a 201 in the penultimate game. De Vera had 184-172 in that stretch in propping the team up.

Action continued on Wednesday at the newly refurbished 38-lane bowling center with the first block of the boys and girls team events with the second block resuming Thursday.

The event is open to the public for free while tournament results may be viewed at the Asian Bowling Federation website, www.abf-online.org.



The matches can also be watched live via video streaming on the PBF, Inc. Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/philbowlingfed/

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