The Hindu : Sport : Shabbir, Sabeena triumph

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Tuesday, Jun 22, 2010
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Shabbir, Sabeena triumph

King and queen of the alley:Sabeenaa Saleem and Shabbir Dhankot, both of Tamil Nadu, pose with their trophies

BANGALORE: Tamil Nadu duo of Shabbir Dhankot and Sabeena Saleem walked away with the men's and women's titles at the end of the Aircel 22nd National Tenpin bowling championship.

At the Star City Bowling Centre here, Shabbir defeated fancied Dilbir Singh of West Bengal to become the youngest ever national champion at 22, while for Sabeena it was her sixth title, downing defending champion Pratima Hegde of Karnataka.

Dilbir, who was leading the field from day one, struggled to get his act together when it mattered most and came up with a 169 in the first game of the two game final on long oil. Shabbir on the other hand came up with a turkey (fourth, fifth and sixth games) to record 193.

In the second too Shabbir began with a double while Dilbir had a split. The TN bowler did let his guard slip in between, but Dilbir failed to seize the chance on this day and strung a score of 183 while Shabbir despite a falter mustered 176 to win by 17 pins.

Sabeena pips Prathima

In the women's final, favourite Prathima Hegde of Karnataka took a lead of 15 pins after the first game. Sabeenaa scored a turkey from sixth frame to the eighth but opened ninth and 10th frames while Prathima struck in the ninth and tenth to take the lead. In the final game, Sabeenaa bowled aggressively and even converted a 1-2-10 split to score 199 while Prathima missed a single pin spare at the crucial time to score 175 and lose by 10 pins.

Earlier in the semifinals, Dilbir Singh scored a comfortable 33-pin win over Girish Gaba of Karnataka. In the women's semifinals, Prathima Hegde defeated Sumathi Nallabantu of Andhra Pradesh by 35 pins.

The results:

Quarterfinals: Men: Girish Gaba bt Prathik Vijan (Mah) 382-363; Dilbir Singh bt Akaash Ashok Kumar (Kar) 378-370; Shabbir Dhankot bt Anthony Rajkumar (Kar) 428-362; Dhruv Sarda bt Srinath Pobbatti (Kar) 400-378 . — Special Correspondent

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