KARACHI-Huge upsets were witnessed in the doubles and trios category of the 1st Abdul Sattar Edhi All-Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Championship 2017, as Pakistan’s No 1 bowler Sardar Ahmer Abbas Saldera, Ali Surya and Daniyal Shah were ousted in the doubles category, as 8 pairs made it to the final round here at Arena Karsaz on Friday.
Ahmed Enterprises CEO Faheem Butt was the chief guest, while Virtual Axis CEO Kh Ahmed Mustaqeem, Khawaja Group of Industries Director Kh Ahmed Fawad, OGDCL Sports Board vice president Ch Ajmal Sabir, Score Line magazine ME Shoaib Ahmed and others were also present on the occasion.
It was yet another historic day as Karachi-based bowlers thronged the arena in great numbers. In all, 23 team featured in the trios category and 45 teams in the doubles category. But on the other hand, it was quite unfortunate that none of the PTBF office-bearers bothered to attend the event. It is the duty of the PTBF to conduct maximum events to ensure bowlers earn hefty amount as bowling is a very expensive sport and commoners can’t afford to bear such heavy expenditures on regular basis. Instead of appreciating people like Kh Ahmed and Sardar Sladera, who created countless opportunities for bowlers and ensure events with hefty prize money to be held every year, the PTBF office-bearers were busy in their own interests.
It is high time when the PTBF must shun double standards and join hands with private sector and ensure free and fair trials prior to announcing the teams and individuals for international events. The blue-eyed persons had inflicted damages on Pakistan, so now genuine and deserving players must be selected through proper trials, who may represent the country to stand any realistic chances of doing well at international level.
In the doubles category, Sardar Ahmer failed to clear first hurdle as he finished at 28th in the doubles, while Ali Surya, Daniyal Shah also failed to clear first stage. Same happened to former national champion Shabbir Lashkarwala, who also ousted in first hurdle. It was great day for relatively unknown bowlers, as Ahmed Mustaqeem, partnering with Haroon Anwar, is occupying second spot while Usman Ghani/KS Romeo are at the top with total of 740 pins with an average of 185. Ahmed/Haroon scored 723 pins with an average of 180.75 while Mushtaq/Naveed with total score of 693 pins at an average of 173.25 were at third place.
It was yet another bad night for Sardar Saldera as after finishing 28th in the doubles, he reached new lows in the trios as well, as he finished 21st amongst the 23 participating trios. Pilipino Janet Sheikh, a lady, who had represented Pakistan in a number of international events is at the top of trios ladder board along with her partners Osama and Jawad Hussain with total of 1,037 pins at an average of 172.83. Shabbir, Adeel and Tariq were second with 1,026 pins while Farhan, Mateen and Umair were third with 1,024 pins. The finals of doubles and trios will be held till early Saturday morning, while the masters and singles category will start today (Saturday) at 8pm.