ISLAMABAD - Young bowling sensation, 14-year-old Daniyal Ur Rehman created huge waves in Pakistan Open Tenpin Bowling Championship 2019, as he left all the seniors behind in the amateur category to grab top position after the first round of matches played here at Leisure City Bowling Club, Jinnah Park on late Thursday night.
Daniyal, who is son of Pakistan’s most decorated bowler Ijaz Ur Rehman, narrowly missed the title last time around and once again, he continued his brilliant run in the mega event, where the top amateurs like Faheem, Imran Mani, Farukh and Mehboob were in action, but the youngster had no fear of playing against the best in the business and showed he has blood of a champion in him.
It was earlier announced that the deaf and dumb category matches will be played on the second night of the championship, but due to accident of one of the main deaf contestant, the category matches were rescheduled on the request of other deaf and dumb bowlers and instead the amateur category matches were played.
Total 45 bowlers form across the country tried their luck in the amateur category. In the first round, each bowler was awarded two games each. After the first round, major surprises were witnessed as few of the biggest names in this particular category bowed out at the very first hurdle. In the absence of defending champion Shahrukh, who opted to play in the professionals category, Daniyal took the centre stage as after first round, he was enjoying massive lead over his nearest rivals and after the pre-quarterfinals, he further consolidated his lead. But as the quarterfinal round started, Daniyal started showing sign of nerves and was committing too many mistakes. He was missing the strikes and twice his ball went into sidelines. He was looking nervous and looking all set to bow out at quarterfinal stage, but he recovered timely and somehow managed to book a place in the semifinals.
Although he was the last one to qualify and that too with only one pin gap, but at least, he stayed alive for one more round. The entire crowd was bucking up Daniyal, who started the semifinal round with new pledge and confidence. The gap was though big, yet Daniyal played superbly and managed to bridge the gap to just 10 pins and in the middle of the second and final round, he overtook all his opponents and for the first time, he was enjoying lead, which he maintained till the end. Although by the last attempt, Daniyal could only maintain 3 pins lead, yet he at least entered the final round as top finisher with total 340 pins.
Daniyal scored 167 in the first game, 173 in the second and ended with the average of 170. Naveed Khan gave really tough time to Daniyal with total of 337 pins, as he scored 156 in the first game, 181 in the second and total average of 168.5 while Farukh was at number three with total of 335 pins, as he scored 162 in the first game, 173 in the second and average of 167.5. Imran Mani with total 326 pins, Faheem with 320 pins, Mehboob Ur Rehman with 295 pins, Haider with 289 pins and Zohaib with 280 pins also reached the final round, which will be held on Dec 31. The professionals round will be played on late Friday night, in which mega stars will be in action for top honours.
