PAENG NEPOMUCENO

Rafael  "Paeng" Nepomuceno of the Philippines was named The Greatest International Bowler Of All Time by the prestigious Bowlers Journal International in its September 2003 issue. Paeng is a six-time World Bowling Champion He is the only four-times winner of the World Cup of Bowling and he's done it in three different decades. He has won in 1976,1980,1992 and 1996.Paeng also won the Worlds Invitational Tournament in 1984 and the World Tenpin Masters Championship in 1999.

Paeng is my good friend and a very humble one. He's not spoiled by his success in his chosen sport. He is the highest awarded athlete in Philippine Sports history. In 1984, He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. President Joseph E. Estrada awarded him The Philippine Legion of Honor in 1999 and in 2008, President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo awarded Paeng the Order of Lakandula with Class of Champion for Life and was declared the Best Filipino Athlete of All Time. Both the Philippine Senate and the House of Congress have declared Paeng "The Greatest Filipino Athlete Of All Time".

He was also named Athlete of The Century by the Philippine Sports Writers Association in 1999 and Athlete of the Millennium in 2000. Paeng was named Philippine Athlete of the year in a record five times by the Philippine Sports Writers Association and the first athlete to be inducted to the association's Hall of Fame in 1993.

The World Bowling Writers awarded Paeng the Mort Luby Jr. Distinguished Service Award for his lifetime contribution to the sport.He was honored by the same body naming him World Bowler of the Year three times in 1984, 1985, and 1992. He was also the first inductee to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame in 1993 making him the first and only bowling athlete to received all awards in all categories of the World Bowling Writers.

My good friend Paeng at 54 is still active in competition. In fact last May 5,2009, he rolled games of 300, 299,268 and 256 for an average of 280.75 thereby establishing a new four game Philippine National Record. In that series, he bowled 23 strikes in a row when he bowled a perfect 300 followed by a near perfect 299 game.

The Guinness Book of World Records listed him in three records: 1) for winning the World Cup four times 2) for being the youngest ever to win the Bowling World Cup at 19 years of age and 3) for having won the most number of bowling tournament titles.

Paeng is the only bowling athlete to have won or awarded titles in the U.S.,Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has a total of 124 career bowling titles to his credit. I think my good friend Paeng is not done yet. I believe that he is going to win his 5th World Cup Bowling Title very soon. He is a very disciplined athlete. He keeps himself physically fit all the time.So what do you think guys? Is he gonna do it again?