Dubai Filipino Bowling Club (DFBC) won the over-all championship in the inaugural World Overseas Filipino Bowling Tour held at Dubai International Bowling Centre from May 1-4.
Seven-time GCC All-Filipino Bowling Tour Masters Champion Uella Marcial took home four gold medals and led the charge for the hosts.
She joined her mother, Elsie, and team-mates Clarisse Corpuz, Liza Castro and Myra Aviles in clinching the gold in the Ladies’ Team Event. The younger Marcial also won the gold in the singles, team and ladies’ all events.
The youngest participant, 16-year-old Jaybee Vargas from Sharjah Filipino Bowling Club, clinched the silver medal in the Men’s All Events and also secured first place in the non-medal men’s doubles category along with his older brother, Peejay.
The over-all championship for DFBC became apparent as early as Day 2 of the three-day event after they bagged the men’s and ladies’ team events and pulled away with an insurmountable 32-point lead with only two medal events left.
DFBC’s Hashim Guinomla triumphed in the men’s masters event after trouncing Anthony Balabbo and Bryan Magdaraog from Saudi Arabia. Guinomla also led DFBC in the men’s team event and sealed the over-all championship crown for the hosts with an accumulated 73 points, miles ahead of the other teams.
“The victory was historical for DFBC,” said Marcial Sr, who is also the vice-chairman of the organising committee.
“DFBC is one of the top Filipino bowling clubs in the region, having won the GCC All-Filipino Bowling Tour for the past five consecutive years. And now, it has added another feather on its cap by winning the World Tour.
“The inaugural World Overseas Filipino Bowling Tour was highly successful and it went beyond our expectations. It marked the beginning of a bowling competition among migrant Filipinos worldwide."
Around 100 bowlers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei participated in the
biennial event.
The next tour will be in 2016 and will be hosted by either Indonesia or Malaysia with various clubs from Europe, Canada, USA and Australia expected to join.