Sandra Gongora, Cristian Azcona crowned Concecabol Masters champions

04 July, 2017

Championships

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Sandra Gongora of Mexico and Puerto Rico’s Cristian Azcona captured the gold medals in women’s and men’s match play masters, which concluded the Central American and Caribbean Championship (Concecabol), Festival Centroamericano (Central America), and Cambowl for Adults (Concababol) at Metrobowl in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Sunday, July 2.

It was the third gold medal in this championships for both players. Gongora won the titles in doubles and all-events and Azcona claimed gold in trios and the team event.

The top eight players in all-events advanced to the masters competition in single-elimination, best-of-three-games match play in bracket system.

In the women’s title match between the two top seeded players, Gongora defeated all-events silver medalist Kristie Lopez of Puerto Rico, two-games-to-one. The Mexican, who is a PWBA touring pro, won the first game 236-217, but Lopez rebounded with a 215-205 win in game two to level the match.

Gongora flew past her opponent in the deciding third game, 247-200, to wrap up the title. Gongora has medaled in each of the seven disciplines. Besides her three gold medals she has won .three silver medals in singles, team and team all-events as well as a bronze medal in trios.

Lopez earned her third silver medal after doubles and all-events.

While the gold medal match and all quarterfinal matches went the distance, Gongora swept Maria Jose Rodriguez of Colombia and Lopez swept Juliana Franco, Colombia, to advance. Rodriguez and Franco shared the bronze medal.

In the men’s division, all matches but the gold medal match were over after two games. Azcona, bronze medalist in all-events was the top seeded player in the semi-final as his compatriot and No. 1 seed Jean Perez, No. 2 seed Luis Rovaina of Venezuela and No. 4 seed Jaime Gonzalez of Colombia were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Azcona was near-perfect in the opening game of his 2-0 quarterfinal win against Luis Andueza of Venezuela and then rolled his way to a two-game sweep of Marco Moretti of Costa Rica to advance to the title match.

Arturo Quintero of Mexico ousted Perez and went on to sweep former World Games champion Manuel Otalora of Colombia in the semi-finals to set up the championship match.

Quintero carried the momentum from his semifinal win into the title match and took a 1-0 lead after a 235-195 win in game one. Azcona, however, countered with a 245-175 win in game two and eventually won a 2-1 decision with a 279-205 victory in game three.

Quintero, the gold medalist in doubles, received the silver medal, while Otalora and Moretti both earned bronze.

Thanks to Gongora’s victory in women’s masters, Mexico led the overall medal tally with five gold, five silver and one bronze medal and the also the women’s medal tally with 4 gold, 3 silver and one bronze.

Puerto Rico dominated the men’s division with 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze and finished second overall with four medals of each color.

Metrobowl in Guatemala City hosted three different events taking place at the same time in Guatemala, from June 24 through July 2.

The main event, the Central American and Caribbean Championship (Concecabol) was the qualifying event for the 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games and featured 17 countries, 10 of whom, including the host country Colombia, qualified for Barranquilla 2018.

Nine countries, host Colombia, Aruba, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela qualified in bother genders. Rounding out the field were women from Panama and the men from Bermuda.

The second event was the Festival Centroamericano in which only the countries from Central America competed, which was Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. This festival was considered a championship since bowling hasn’t been selected by the host Nicaragua for the Central American Games in Managua in December 2017 (part of Olympic cycle).

The third event was the CONCABA (Confederación de Centroamérica y México de Boliche or Central America and México Bowling Confederation) Cambowl for Adults which included all countries from the Festival Centroamericano plus Mexico.

The main event drew 176 players, 100 men and 76 women, from 17 countries (Aruba, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Virgin Islands), who competed in singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events, team all-events and masters.

Complete Results:
Concecabol
Festival
Concababol

Puerto Rico, Colombia win prestigious Team titles in Concecabol
Puerto Rican men, Mexican women take gold in Trios at CAC Championship
Mexico sweeps gold in Doubles at CAC Championship
Guerrero, Rovaina start CAC Championship with victory in Singles

2017 Central American & Caribbean Championship – Medal Tally

Overall, Men’s and Women’s Medal Tally after seven disciplines (Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team, All-Events, Team All-Events and Masters)

Pos	Overall	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Pos	Men	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Pos	Women	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1.	Mexico	5	5	1	1.	Puerto Rico	4	1	3	1.	Mexico	4	3	1
2.	Puerto Rico	4	4	4	2.	Venezuela	1	2	2	2.	Colombia	3		5
3.	Colombia	4	1	7	3.	Mexico	1	2		3.	Puerto Rico		3	1
4.	Venezuela	1	2	3	4.	Colombia	1	1	2	4.	Aruba		1
5.	Costa Rica		1	1	5.	Costa Rica		1	1	5.	Venezuela			1
6.	Aruba		1
	Total	14	14	16		Total	7	7	8		Total	7	7	8

2017 Central American & Caribbean Championship – Men’s Masters

Single-elimination, best-of-three-games in bracket system.

Quarterfinal:
#8 Arturo Quintero, Mexico, def. #1 Jean Perez, Puerto Rico, 2-0
(225-202, 233-166)
#5 Manuel Otalora, Colombia, def. #4 Jaime Gonzalez, Colombia, 2-0
(235-223, 230-210)
#7 Marco Moretti, Costa Rica, def. #2 Luis Rovaina, Venezuela, 2-0
(258-198, 203-180)
(#3 Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, def. #6 Luis Andueza, Venezuela, 2-0
299-213, 227-172)

Semi-Final:
Quintero def. Otalora, 2-0
(237-196, 206-124)
Azcona def. Moretti, 2-0
(233-191, 200-198)

Championship:
Azcona def. Quintero, 2-1
(195-235, 245-175, 279-205).

2017 Central American & Caribbean Championship – Women’s Masters

Single-elimination, best-of-three-games in bracket system.

Quarterfinal:
#6 Maria Jose Rodriguez, Colombia, def. #3 Clara Juliana Guerrero, Colombia, 2-1
(210-167, 183-235, 256-216)
#2 Kristie Lopez, Puerto Rico, def. #7 Rocio Restrepo, Colombia, 2-1
(195-158, 203-223, 255-226)
#4 Juliana Franco, Colombia, def. #5 Kamilah Dammers, Aruba, 2-1
(268-204, 177-213, 217-202)
#1 Sandra Gongora, Mexico, def. #8 Thashaina Seraus, Aruba, 2-1
(171-192, 217-192, 211-188)

Semi-Final:
Lopez def. Rodriguez, 2-0
(269-210, 237-165)
Gongora def. Franco, 2-0
(209-174, 198-197)

Championship:
Gongora def. Lopez, 2-1
236-217, 205-215, 247-200).

Herbert Bickel