ISLAMABAD - Ijaz Ur Rehman of Islamabad won the Azadi Cup National Tenpin Bowling Championship 2015 men's title here on Saturday.
Players from Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Islamabad showed their talent and skills in the mega event. The tournament was played on singles, doubles, team, amateur and deaf event format.
Islamabad players stole the limelight as they won singles and doubles title while they remained runners up in team event. It was truly a remarkable performance by the Islamabad players, who overshadowed Karachi players despite having lesser facilities to train.
In men's singles event final Ijaz outclassed his opponents with brilliant skills and performance to land the title. Ijaz was Pakistan number 1 bowler since bowling was introduced but he had yet to win a major title since long and Ijaz ended the drought in style in front of his home supporters as it was a pack to capacity arena where Pakistan's top bowlers showcased their skills.
Pakistan number two bowler Zafar Iqbal gave Ijaz a tough time but had to cotend with the second place. Ijaz grabbed the title with total 408 pins out of two games and was awarded a cash prize of Rs50,000 and a beautiful trophy. Zafar remained second with 398 pins and received Rs25,000 cash prize and runners-up trophy while M Chattha, also from Islamabad, grabbed third position with total of 390 pins and was awarded Rs15,000 cash. Danyial Shah with 280 pins remained 4th. In doubles category: Ijaz/Ashiq Ali dominated with score of 818 pins to clinch title. Saleem Baig/M Hussian Chattha with 797 pins remained second. Winners were awarded gold medals and cash prize of Rs20,000 while silver medals along with Rs 10,000 cash went to the runners up.
In team events, Karachi team consisting Danyial Shah, Ahmer Abbas, Ali Suria and Faizan Tariq won the gold medal and were awarded Rs20,000 cash while team B of Islamabad comprising Ijaz, Saqib Shahzad, Malik Faisal and Ali Shah won silver medal and R 10,000 cash. Qasim won the deaf category defeating Nasir Dar by 10 pins margin in the final round. Qasim scored 178 pins while Dar remains second with 168 pins. Amir got bronze medal with total of 158 pins.
Inter Provincial Coordination secretary Ejaz Chaudhry graced the occasion as chief guest and distributed prizes, trophies and certificates among players. On the occasion Ejaz Ch said he was really honoured and it was first time he saw how Pakistan players exceled in this beautiful indoor sports. “I will recommend Pakistan Sports Board to lend all out support to Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Federation, as they had the talent to win laurels for the country at international stage.“ He also promise to do his level best in helping PTBF in allocation of a piece of land where they could construct their own bowling alley.