Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno (born January 30, 1957 in Manila) is a Filipino and is a Six Time World Bowling Champion and has won the World Cup of bowling four times in three different decades:
In Tehran, Iran on November 19, 1976
In Jakarta, Indonesia on November 1, 1980
In Le Mans, France on November 8, 1992
In Belfast, Northern Ireland on November 23, 1996
Nepomuceno also won the World's invitational Tournament held in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 8, 1984 and the World Tenpin Masters championship in London, England on March 7, 1999. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and has two unbroken records up to this day for being the only athlete in the world to win world titles in three different decades and his other Guinness book of record is for being the youngest ever to have won the Bowling World Cup at 19 years old. In total, Paeng has won over 118 tournament titles which is recognized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association as a World Record for the most career titles.
He is the only bowling athlete who has received the prestigious International Olympic Committee President's Trophy which is the highest sports award that can be given to an athlete. Paeng was the first international male bowling athlete to be enshrined in the International Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993 and his seven foot image is displayed at the entrance of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame .In November 1999, the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) named Paeng as the "International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium."
In a ceremony held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the World Championships, 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 for Filipino sport."
Paeng is the only Athlete in the Philippines who has been given the highest award to a Filipino by three Philipppine Presidents. In 1984, Paeng was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. In 1999, President Joseph E. Estrada awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor and in 2008, President Gloria M. Arroyo awarded Paeng, the Order of Lakandula with Class of Champion for Life and was declared Best Filipino athlete of all time. Both the Philippine Senate and House of Congress has declared Paeng the Greatest Philippine Athlete of All Time.
On January 6, 2008, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bestowed the Champion for Life of the Order of Lakandula to Rafael “Paeng" Nepomuceno for his "outstanding achievement in international sports, the last of which is his victory at the South Pacific Classic tournament in Melbourne in Australia last October 2007"
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