BANGALORE: Karnataka’s Prathima Hegde regained the women’s title and Tamil Nadu’s Shabbir Dhankot retained the men’s crown at the National Tenpin Bowling Championships held in Bangalore recently.
But both had contrasting fields to contend with though the final by itself was very keenly contested.
Shabbir felt that the competition this year was tougher than that of the last year when he won it in Gurgaon. Prathima, however, was of the opinion that the women’s field was not that tough compared to last year.
“The Delhi bowlers did bowl well but overall, I think last year it was far more competitive. Swapna was there, Namitha was also there. Any bowler could come up and notch a score of 180-plus. But this year I think it wasn’t that tough,” said Prathima, who was a member of the bronze medal winning Indian team in the mixed team event of the Commonwealth tenpin bowling championhips.
“It really felt very good to have regained the title. I needed it badly as I had to break the home jinx. I have rarely played well in a final at home but I have done so outside. So I had to prove it to myself that I could also perform well at home. I am happy that I managed to do that,” said Prathima, who has also represented the country in the Asian Games.
“I will begin practice for the AMF World Cup in Johannesburg at the end of this month. I managed to enter the second round last time and hope to do that again. I aim to finish in the top 12,” added Prathima.
Shabbir said: “It felt fantastic to win back-to-back national titles. I had a very familiar opponent in Aakash Ashok Kumar in the final. We have played many finals. I had to put him under pressure with strikes and I did that. But he played really well. I had two strikes finally and he needed two as well. But he got one and luck was not on his side and I triumphed.”
The Tamil Nadu bowler added: “The competition was much tougher this year than last year. The Delhi bowlers played really well. Vikesh in particular was outstanding. I broke the meet record with a tally of 1365 pin falls. And within four hours he sent my record and the national record tumbling.”
Did he feel threatened by Vikesh at any point?
“Not really. I have always been strong in the knock-out stages and all I had to do was to play my game. I did not do anything spectacular and managed to stay in front,” Shabbir added.
“The Elite Squad concept devised by the federation has set higher standards with many young bowlers able to produce big scores. The game is surely growing and it is becoming tougher to win by the day,” said Shabbir, who was also part of the mixed team that won the Commonwealth tenpin bowling championhips bronze.
“Our coach Allan Chia and Kannan has been doing a marvellous job in providing us everything to improve our scores. I am sure many of the Indian bowlers will be a force to reckon with at the international level in the near future,” added Shabbir, the youngest national title winner at 21 last year and also the youngest to retain it.
“I will begin my practice soon to ensure that I do well in the World Cup this month,” added Shabbir.
