Monday, January 07, 2008 Bowling icon Paeng gets Champion for Life award
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred the Champion for Life of the Order of Lakandula to sixth-time World Bowling Champion Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno for his outstanding achievement in international sports, the last of which is his victory at the South Pacific Classic Tournament in Melbouorne, Australia last October 2007.
"Congratulations, the Filipino people are very proud of you," Arroyo said citing him for his extraordinary contribution to Philippine sports and for his outstanding achievements in bowling competitions.
The award was conferred to Nepomuceno during his courtesy call in Malacañang last week. He was accompanied by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner William "Butch" Ramirez, Bacolod Representative and the Thailand South East Asian (SEA) Games chef d' mission Monico Puentevella, Pampanga fourth district Representative Anna York Bondoc and his family.
Nepomuceno, who informed Arroyo that he was the first non-Australian who won the tournament twice, also presented to the President the trophy that he won. He first won the tournament in 1984.
The Champion for Life was created by Arroyo to give due recognition to Filipinos who have attained outstanding achievements in international sports, international beauty pageants and similar fields of competition, and that have fostered extraordinary national pride and inspiration towards excellence.
Others who received the same citations include People's Champ Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao for boxing, Miss International Precious Lara Quigaman, Billiard King Efren "Bata" Reyes, and Mount Everest Filipino conquerors Romi Garduce, Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye described Nepomuceno as a "world class Filipino" whom he said, despite pushing 50 later this month, still maintained a build and physique "that could only have been the product of hard work and discipline.
Nepomuceno said he religiously spends at least an hour in the gym three times a week".
Bunye said if it were not for a thunderstorm that prevented a teenage Nepomuceno from playing golf, he would not have gotten hook on bowling.
"The six-time world bowling champion narrated how a thunderstorm changed the course of his life. He was with a group of teenage friends playing golf when a heavy downpour cut short their game. Unable to continue, he went to a nearby bowling alley and tried a few balls. From that moment on, he said he got hooked in the game," he added. (JMR/Sunnex)
