BOWLER Krizziah Lyn Tabora played pressure-free early on in the 53rd Bowling World Cup International Finals in Hermosillo, Mexico. Pressure finally caught up to her when she reached the Final Four.
“I wasn’t able to eat my breakfast but the reminders from my parents and (teammate) Jomar (Jumapao) helped me get over it,” Tabora recalled on her arrival late Tuesday night.
Ranged against Siti Safiyah of Malaysia in the one-game finale, Tabora, 27, hardly looked at the running scores, relying purely on the reaction of the crowd during the final match. She only realized that she had won the crown when Safiyah hugged and congratulated her on the final frame.
“I never thought that I would become a world champion,” Tabora said during a welcome dinner hosted by Philippine bowling and billiards godfather Aristeo ‘Putch’ Puyat at the Manila Polo Club.
“There were no expectations and I just enjoyed the game and the experience,” added Tabora, who also represented the country in the international finals in 2012 in Poland.
Tabora gave the country its third world title in the ladies division and eighth in World Cup history overall.
Lita Dela Rosa won in 1978 while Bong Coo duplicated the feat in 1979. Bowling icon Paeng Nepomuceno won the prestigious World Cup four times while CJ Suarez triumphed in 2003.
A national team member since she was 14, Tabora also won a silver medal with the women’s team in the recent Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and a pair of bronze medals in the 2015 Singapore and 2017 Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games.
On her way to the finals, Tabora upset four-time bowling pro tour champion Rocio Restrepo of Columbia 249-222 in the semifinals. In the finale, she scored a 236-191 victory over Safiyah, a touring pro in the United States.
Local bowlers got a big shot in the arm when Nepomuceno and Coo helped reorganize the Philippine Bowling Federation.
Up next for Tabora is the World Championships in Las Vegas on Nov. 25-Dec. 4 where the entire members of the men’s and women’s teams are also competing. (Malaya)