Scoring ten-pins: Second Winter Bowling Tournament concludes at the Royal Rodale

The winners were awarded up to Rs20,000.

KARACHI: Around 70 people in yellow shirts streamed into Alley’s Blue, put on their bowling shoes and began to warm up for the “Second Winter Bowling Tournament” at the Royal Rodale (RR) Club on Friday.

For some, the grand prize was the motivation, for others it is the love of the game. “Although the prize is a bonus I participated because I have followed the sport for over 15 years,” said a participant, who preferred to remain unnamed.

He hoped that his 10-year-old son would be as enthusiastic about the sport as he is. “He has been watching me play throughout the tournament.”

The participants were charged Rs2,500 for singles and Rs2,000 for doubles. Individual players were divided into two categories according to their skill level, “masters” and “royal masters”.

The finals were held on Saturday. Farhaj Ahmed won in the masters category and went home with a cash prize of Rs5,000. Usman Ghani won in the royal masters category and received a cash prize of Rs20,000. The other runners-up got Rs15,000 and Rs10,000. In the doubles, Shabbir Lashkarwala and Usman Ghani won and bagged Rs15,000.

Besides holding tournaments, the club promotes the sport and sponsors players for international bowling events. Shabbir Laskharwala, Naseem Ahmed, Ahmed Shakani and Asghar Rangoonwala, attended a two-week professional bowling training campaign in the Philippines last month. According to Altaf Ahmed Khan, the club’s owner, Rangoonwala, is extremely passionate about the game, and as a result the establishment reflects it. “Our goal is to promote bowling and find new talent for it,” said Khan. Kazim Raza, a senior bowler at RR, said that Lashkarwala was one of the best players he had seen in Pakistan. “It is absolutely phenomenal to watch him play,” he said. “His style is very beautiful.”

Raza claimed that there was little chance that anyone could cheat because the club used the latest bowling technology with a foul line system to punish anybody who overstepped the starting line. “No other bowling facility in the country has the quality that RR has,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,  2011.