Tantan Rivera of MKAI-Nobleland and Niño Nicolas of Sletba-RBC stamped their class by winning their respective divisions at the start of the finals of the 27th Sletba Open Championships on Friday.
Rivera garnered a total of 1772 pinfalls in the 8-game finals to rule the Mixed Classified Masters division. He beat Josh Ablang of AMBA who placed 1st runner-up after putting up a tough challenge to Rivera throughout the series. He had a 1762 total score.
Eric Buyco of STAI-BMBC was 2nd runner-up with 1718, followed by Patrick Eusebio of PPTBA-Gruppo-Sletba with 1714, and Lyle Rosales of STAI, with 1708.
The fight among these five players specially in the last three games was so close, but Rivera mustered enough grit and strength, capping his play with a 246, to seal his victory.
In the earlier finals event of the day, Niño Nicolas showed skill and heart to win the Mixed Rising Stars division with a total of 1391 pinfalls in the 7-game series.
Johnny Laygo of PBA wound up 1st runner-up with 1370, followed by Hardy Liamzon of Sletba-RBC, 1315; Noel Español of PPTBA, 1301, and Davin Tan of Sletba, 1288.
The 27th Sletba Open Championships is being held at the Sta. Lucia East Mall bowling center in Cainta, Rizal. It opened on Nov. 8 and has drawn more than 300 players from various associations in Metro Manila and the provinces.
Saturday’s finals events feature the Ladies Masters, Senior Open Masters, and Mixed Youth Masters.