Thursday, October 31, 2024 – ALAM LANES, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Story courtesy of Jay Leon Guerrero, Guam Bowling Secretary-General
Jeremiah Camacho has been having quite a year in 2024. The 21-year-old southpaw, representing Tamuning at the 36th Asian Intercity Bowling Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia, won the overall master’s championship for his first career gold medal.
His road to gold included a perfect 300 game in the semi-final match against Nur Aiman from Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. In the first game of their match, Camacho strung 12-strikes in a row on lanes 17-18 at Alam Lanes to dazzle the capacity crowd in attendance.
“I was more worried about winning the match than bowling a perfect game. Of course, I was nervous, but I was confident in myself to throw 3 more good shots,” said Camacho.
“It was hard to stay focused after that because of the adrenaline, but my coach was great at keeping me in check,” said Camacho.
Camacho defeated Aiman 300-258 in their first match and won the second match 191-175 to stamp his ticket to the gold medal match against Stanley Lau from New Territories, Hong Kong.
Camacho took an early lead in the gold medal match and clinched the gold for Tamuning with scores of 234-223 and 227-195 to win the match 2-0.
The perfect game is Camacho’s seventh perfect game and his first in a tournament overseas.
Other players from Tamuning to advance to the top 16 master’s were Noah Taimanglo and Maria Wood. Both advanced in come-from-behind fashion in a sudden death one-ball rolloff to make the final 8.
Both players ran into higher seeded players who caught fire and both dropped their quarterfinal matches with Taimanglo bowing to Seong Nam, Korea’s Won Jong Hyeok with scores 268-196 and 267-171. Wood faced eventually women’s gold medallist Alyssa Junaidi from the host city Shah Alam by scores of 204-189 and 213-151.
Camacho’s victory makes it his third overall international championship victory and his fifth tournament in a row this year after he won the Storm U22 Hong Kong Championship and the inaugural Storm U22 Guam Championships in September.
“Every time I go off-island, my goal is to represent the island to the best of my abilities,” said Camacho. Camacho’s recent victory got him a ball manufacturer contract from Storm Bowling Products.
“They are the best on the market, shout out to Storm for making the best bowling balls in the world. Also, thank you to my family for continuing to support me,” said Camacho.
The Guam contingent, representing the city of Tamuning, includes Shannon Bukikosa-Esplana, Mae Rose Nauta, Naiyah Taimanglo, Jaeceline Espiritu, Steve Esplana, Jay Leon Guerrero, and Cisco Uncangco.
Guam Bowling 