Upcoming bowler Cesar Monares survived the last berth of Class C with a pin escape (782-781) from Sean Balingasa and bowled strong against Jay Bengco, Voi Ycong and Archie Alcantara in the semis then went all the way up till he clinched the January 2010 men's title of the Filipino Expatriate Damayan Bowling Group at the Bowling City here. Monares, who is being known as a bowling pundit with deep arsenal, convincingly outscored other semifinalists with his 227, franchising him to challenge the top qualifier Serge Rivera. Balance trade of marks displayed perfect conditions for both players and the battle was decided by their endurance on the last frame wherein Monares recorded a 208-200 success over Rivera to become Class C titlist. Head on against other class champions, Monares was consistently pacing Class A titlist Joel Nidoy while Priz Calidro (B champ) and Rolly Vistal (D champ) showed decisive pursuit. Nidoy won the A championship over Jun Henoguin, Calidro over Faisal Relativo and Vistal over Paolo Allegro. Monares was edging Nidoy till the 6th frame but the latter caught up on the 8th. But Nidoy rolled a split on the 9th frame thus smudging his overall monthly title bid. With the other finalists hardly mount a chase on this 4-bowler race finals, Monares emerged January champion with 217 with runners-up being Nidoy with 204, Vistal with 189 and Calidro 174. In the ladies' division, multi-titlist Aisah Silabay was on the 10th place with Puri Parena waving the banner with 223 in front at the outset. Sally Sa?osa (204), Malou Nidoy (195) and Minda Guevarra (194) joined Parena in top four. A 203 drive jacked Silabay to third place with 370 after the second salvo. Sa?osa was on top with 403, Parena (385) and Imelda Sayago showed contention with 368 in fourth place. Third game was Guevarra's charge as the lefty Class C momentarily occupied the top with 579 on her 214 blitz. Sa?osa was second with 577 while Class A Fatima Jintarat suddenly zoomed into third spot with 554 on a 201 chase. Silabay was clinging on fourth with 545. The last game then was a fierce struggle. Silabay went on bagging marks for 206 to clinch the January 2010 ladies' title on four-game handicap series of 751, evading Jintarat's challenge with a pin escape at 750. Jintarat took the second place. But from nowhere Nurissa Ramos from 17th place in the first half startled other contenders as she toppled the third place with 737. Ramos enabled to catch up with her sizzling 222 and 224 in the last two games. Sa?osa survived fourth place with 732 while May Lourdes failed the winning bracket at 728. __
