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THE good
news is that two Filipino bowlers earned slots on the
Asian team to the first Federation Cup in Barcelona,
Spain, slated from July 26 to 28.
This
they did because of their solid performance in the Asian
Bowling Championships in Hong Kong recently.
But the
bad news is they have yet to secure their respective
Shengen visa, and they need it fast.
Asian
championships double gold-medal winner Chester King and
silver medalist Raoul Miranda were named to the four-man
Asian team, along with Asian All Events bronze medalist
Hussain Al-Suwaudu of the United Arab Emirates and
fourth-placer Mubarak Al-Muraikhi of Qatar.
A
Schengen visa is required for travel to Europe. It takes
about two weeks to process the visa and the Filipinos
only got a confirmed appointment for application of the
visa from the Spanish Embassy two weeks after the
tournament.
“We just
learned that we will be competing in the Fed Cup during
the Asian Bowling Championships. So after we arrived
home, I immediately called the Spanish Embassy to apply
and get an early schedule for an appointment,” said King
in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum
at the Shakey’s United Nations Avenue.
“But all
dates are fully booked. Our chance to get an early
schedule is that some applicants postpone their
interview. That way we might get a spot. We are
following up our application and also hope we could get
some connections,” said the 32-year-old King.
King won
the trios and All Events gold medals while Miranda, 35,
bagged the All Events silver medal besides his bronze in
the men’s singles. Frederick Ong, 26, was the other
member of the Philippine trios team.
National
coach Nico Valderrama told the same forum that although
they won a gold in the Asian Championships for the first
time since 2002, much work is still to be done.
“We
exceeded expectations in this tournament, which is an
equivalent of the Asian Games. But there is still work
to be done to get more medals,” said Valderrama, who was
also joined in the forum by women’s team coach Jojo
Canare and female bowler Krizziah Tabora.
Valderrama said the men’s team is now looking forward to
the World Men’s Championships set August 21 to 30 in
Bangkok.
King and
Miranda, Valderrama bared, will not get an automatic
slot in the prestigious tournament, as well as World
Masters champion Biboy Rivera and Paolo Valdez.
“We
still need to assess the team because competition will
be stiffer with more than 50 countries participiating,”
said Valderrama.
Canare
said the women’s team’s next international competition
will be next year’s World Women’s Championship. |
