PALEMBANG - A bronze medal finish eluded the Philippine women's bowling squad in the women's team of six event, losing by just 18 pins to third-placer Chinese Taipei on Friday night at the Jakabaring Bowling Center.
The Philippines placed fourth overall with a total score of 7951, inches away from Chinese Taipei's finish of 7969. Korea came home with the gold with 8338 and Malaysia earned silver with 8149.
It was a wild finish for the women's team bronze medal. The Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, and even Japan, had an earshot of the coveted third place. It came down to the last frame of the sixth game amid the raucous cheers and shouts from the fans inside the jam-packed venue.
The six-woman crew of Maria Liza del Rosario, Dyan Arcel Coronacion, Maria Lourdes Arles, Rachelle Leon, Marie Alexis Sy, and Marian Lara Posadas displayed poise down the stretch to finish a hair away from a potential medal.
"It's really unfortunate. This just means that we could have had it," said women's coach Jojo Canare in Filipino. "I can't put the blame on the team and I really shouldn't blame anyone because three of them are rookies in the Asian Games. At least I saw how they fought."
The girls laid it out in the final frame, hoping to catch up to Chinese Taipei who finished their 10th frame earlier than the Philippines. Chinese Taipei's score of 7969 was already awaiting the final rankings as the Philippines was still working through its last frame. If the trio of Leon, Sy, and Posadas all managed to get a strike in their last turn, or get at least two spares, the Philippines could have finished bronze.
"It hurts," Posadas, the team's anchor for the event said. "Actually we did everything that we could during this event. We're still happy with the result at least we were able to show them that we can put up a fight."
"Yeah it hurts but as long as we gave our all and gave our best," echoed Sy.
Bowling for the 2018 Asian Games actually adopted a new scoring system. Unlike in previous tournaments where a strike's score would carry over in other frames, a strike in the Games would merit an automatic score of 30 for the bowler. Coach Canare noted that the team still has to get used to the new format. As for another point of improvement, the team could still use a ton of experience at this level.
"My team has to be exposed to these (events)," shared coach Canare. "The ones that we faced today, except for teams from Southeast Asia because we see them in the Malaysian Open and Singapore Open, but with teams like Japan and Korea, we don't see those types of teams often so we can't gauge our level in competition."
The women's team has failed to win in the women's trios the other day and now has missed out on another medal in the team of six event. Sy and Posadas, meanwhile, will continue to represent the country individually in the women's masters division later this week.
"For sure we'll learn something from this experience," said Sy. "We will work harder to achieve more."