THE Philippine Bowling Federation has formed an eight-member team that will see action in the Vietnam Southeast Asian (SEA) Games which formally opened on Thursday in Hanoi.

The team, composed of veterans Merwin Mathieu Tan, Patrick Neil Nuqui, Marie Alexis Sy, Marian Lara Posadas, Maria Lourdes Arles and newcomers Ivan Dominic Malig, Christian Dychangco and Rachelle Leon, arrived in Vietnam’s capital city on Wednesday, five days before the competition begins at the 20-lane Royal City Hanoi Bowling Center.

The Filipino bowlers have been training four times a week since February this year at the Starmall in Mandaluyong City.

Tan will be making his third appearance in the SEA Games and he is optimistic on his medal campaign. He is entered in the men’s singles, doubles and team events.

“I have been practicing consistently, attending the strength and conditioning and mental training via Zoom. I am confident to win because I trained for it,” said the 22-year-old Tan, who won the silver medal in the team event with Nuqui, Kenneth Chua and Frederick Ong in the 2019 edition hosted by the Philippines.

Tan, who pocketed the singles gold at the 2019 Asian Youth Championships in Malaysia, also won the team bronze medal with Chua, Nuqui and Dychangco in the International Bowling Federation (IBF) World Championships in Dubai last year. The women’s team of Leon, Arles, Norel Nuevo and Uella Marcial bagged the bronze medal.

National coach Jojo Canare said the team aims to surpass its 2019 SEA

Games output where the Philippines won the silver medal in the men’s team and the bronze medal in the women’s team.

“We stopped when the lockdown started on March

16, 2020. We, the coaches, decided to go back to training in April 2020 via virtual/online,” the 52-year-old bowler, who is a SEA Games gold medalist and an Asian Games silver medal winner, explained.

There was also a plan for the team to compete in various international tournaments in preparation for the SEA Games but was put on hold.

As the pandemic situation improved, the Philippines managed to join the IBF World Championships in Dubai and went home with two bronze medals.

Canare, a runner-up in the Bowling World Cup, said the national bowlers are capable of winning medals in Vietnam. “They are looking forward to competing in the SEA Games and will try to surpass the medals won in 2019. Gold medals are always the target,” she said.

Aside from Canare, the other members of the coaching staff are former world champion Biboy Rivera and Rey Reyes.

Indonesia was crowned overall champion in bowling during the 2019 edition after winning four golds, two silvers and one bronze. Singapore was second with three golds, one silver and four bronzes followed by Malaysia (2-3-2), Thailand (0-2-1) and Philippines (0-1-1). Compared to nine in the 2019 SEA Games, only six events (singles, doubles and team in men’s and women’s divisions) are on hand for bowling in Vietnam.