Shabbir Dhankot of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s Prathima Hegde held their nerve to emerge champions in the Aircel 23rd National Tenpin bowling championship at the StarCity Centre here on Sunday.

ALL SMILES: Shabbir Dhankot and Prathima Hegde winners of the National Tenspin bowling championship.      The Hindu

Defending champion Shabbir handled the pressure better than Aakash Ashok Kumar of Karnataka in the two-game final, each played on short and long oil, to clinch the title by a mere eight points.

Aakash matched Shabbir initially before a ‘gutter ball’ saw him finish 11 points short of Shabbir’s 190 at the end of the first game. In the second, Shabbir upped his strike percentage and even had a ‘turkey’ to finish at 213, leaving Aakash the tough task of getting a ‘double.’

After a strike, Aakash managed only nine pinfalls to fall short by eight points.

With this victory, Shabbir became the second player to successfully defend his title in the history of the National championship. Karnataka’s Vijay Punjabi achieved the feat in 2007 and 2008.

The women’s final was equally exciting. Prathima trailed by 59 pinfalls after the first game against Tamil Nadu’s Sabeena Saleem, played on long oil. However, she turned things around in short oil to register a narrow win and claim the title.

After trailing 146-205 in the first game, Prathima, with a turkey and a double, tallied a high score of 233. Sabeena needed a double in the last frame but managed only a strike and a five.

Earlier, Shabbir beat Delhi’s Vikesh Veer Jain 423-335 to reach the final. In the Eliminator, Akaash got the better of fellow State player Huned Khokhar 435-385. He then proceeded to defeat Vikesh 436-403 in the second qualifier.

In the women’s section, Prathima beat Sabeena 397-320 to reach the final. In the Eliminator, Delhi’s Anuradha Sarda eased past Maharashtra’s Nicole Campbell 383-304.

The second qualifier saw Sabeena winning a cliffhanger 318-317 against Anuradha.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / Sport> Special Sports / by Special Correspondent / Bangalore, November 13th, 2011