Sunday, August 11, 2019 – Fukuoka, Japan
Top seed Jeremiah Camacho of Guam and 6th seed Hideaki Hata of Japan battled it out for supremacy in the U22 5th Fukuoka Summer Cup 2019 sponsored by Storm held at the Toyo Sports Palace, Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka, Japan from August 8-11. Both bowlers used strong pin action during the opening frames to lock strikes through three frames. Hata, the only two-handed bowler in the top six, left a pin seven on the fourth frame as Camacho delivered two more strikes to take a 21-pin lead mid-way through the match. Hata battled back with a turkey to stay within striking distance, then took a three-pin lead after seven frames as Camacho left a 6-7-10 split. Hata held on to the three-pin lead as the 16-year-old top seed southpaw settled for a pin ten spare. Hata then stuffed a pin ten with a couple of messengers to counter Camacho’s strike on the foundation frame, smashed the pocket on the 10th, struck with a scrambler on the 11th and 12th to defeat the top seed 258-255 and claim the top prize of the championship.
6th seed Hata used his patience during the semi-final match against 2nd seed Mervin Tan as the later opened the set with an eight bagger before leaving counts on the final two frames. Hata spared on the first frame before unleashing an eleven bagger to advance to the final match against Camacho with a 290 game. Numan Syahml of Singapore finished in third with a 202 game.
Hata was able to find an opening in the quarterfinal match as his 279 game was a strike better than 4th seed Fukumitsu Ryo’s 268 and Fujinaga’s 197.
Camacho finished the eight-game set with a 1920 total to take pole position edging out Tan of the Philippines for the top post. Syahml finished in third place followed by Fukumitsu Ryo, Fujinaga Hokuto and Hata of Japan to round off the televised top six field.
According to Camacho, “My objective was to do my best to represent Guam and my family. The game plan today was to take things slow. I blocked the outside world and just played how I would play when I was back home.”
Camacho qualified in 14th place with a 1427 total over six games as he dropped sets of 720 and 707 while Noah Taimanglo topped the desperado squad with a 245 game to enter the field of 39 bowlers. Taimanglo finished the master’s event in 13th place.
For his efforts, Camacho was awarded a scholarship prize of JPY250,000 along with a sponsorship prize to compete in the Milo Junior All Stars in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December. “I was planning to go to Malaysia for the Milo Junior All Starts scheduled for December. Winning sponsorship from this U22 tournament is a blessing and I am grateful to Storm and the rest of the sponsors for offering this incentive as a prize” added Camacho.
Guam Bowling 