The Guinness Book of World Records honored Filipino bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno for the fourth time.
Paeng beat his own record of Most Bowling titles which was first established in 2007.
The Guinness World Records has updated Paeng’s career titles to 133 from the previous 118.
The bowling legend achieved his 133rd title in 2019 in Quezon City when he won the PTBA Mixed Open at 62 years old. It was also a record for being the oldest Masters champion.
Paeng holds three unbroken Guinness World records:
He was the youngest World Tenpin bowling champion for winning the 1976 Bowling World Cup (BWC) in Tehran, Iran.
Paeng won the most Bowling World Titles in three different decades (1976, 1980, 1992, and 1996 Bowling World Cup titles, 1984 World’s Invitational and 1999 World Tenpin Masters).
He also won the most worldwide titles in a career won over five different decades, and in six different continents which is currently 133. His previous World Record was first established (118) in 2007 then (124) in 2013.
Paeng was also enshrined in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame on November 22, 2018.
He was the first male bowling athlete to be inducted in the World Bowling Hall of Fame in 1993 and is in the entrance of the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum in Arlington, Texas, USA.
Paeng is currently the first and the only one in Asia to earn a United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Gold Coach certification.
The USBC Gold Level Coaching is the highest certification for coaches, much like receiving a doctorate in a field of study and Paeng is one of only 25 active coaches to currently hold the designation.
Paeng still enjoys being able to compete against bowling athletes many who are half his age, and has the honor of still being able to represent the Philippines in international competitions.
He is also a trustee of the Philippine Bowling Federation and is an adviser to the Philippine Men’s and Women’s bowling team. He is also a senior lecturer professor at the University of the Philippines and teaches bowling.
Paeng has been bowling since he was 12, winning his first major tournament at 15, and his first Bowling World Cup at 19, achieving a rare Grand Slam by winning the Philippine Open, Asian Championships and the Bowling World Cup in a span of five months in 1976.
The World FIQ, the world governing body of the sport then, named Paeng as the “International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium” in behalf of 100 million bowlers during the opening ceremonies of the World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 1999.
During the ceremony, an FIQ official cited Paeng with these words: “No international bowling athlete is more deserving of recognition than Paeng. In addition to his long list of well known achievements as a world champion in three decades, Paeng truly has been and continues to be an extraordinary ambassador to the sport”.
Paeng is the only athlete in the Philippines who has been honored by five Philippine Presidents and was given the highest award to a Filipino.
In 1984, Paeng was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Ferdinand E. Marcos, the highest award given to a Filipino at the disposition of the President of the Philippines.
In 1989, Paeng was given a Presidential citation by President Corazon Aquino in Malacanang Palace for his various international triumphs internationally and locally.
President Fidel V. Ramos honored Paeng in Malacanang Palace on three separate occassions for his two World Cup wins and for being named Athlete of the Year twice during his term as President.
He also became the first athlete to be bestowed the Philippine Legion of Honor by President Joseph E.Estrada in 1999.
In 2008, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred on Paeng the Order of Lakandula with the Class of Champion for Life.
The Philippine Sportswriters Association named him “Athlete of the Year” for an unprecedented five times.
In 1993 he was the first athlete to be enshrined in their PSA Hall of Fame.
He was named “Athlete of the Century” at the end of 1999 and Athlete of the Millennium in 2000 by the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
