Brilliant Dhankot off to flying start

Karnataka's Pratyek in second place

Former national champion and elite squad member Shabbir Dhankot got off to a splendid start in the 26th National tenpin bowling championship here at BluO, Orion Mall, on Tuesday. The Tamil Nadu bowler topped the combined men's group (Squad A and Squad B) with a score of 1,345 pins at an average of 224.17 pin fall on medium oil condition at the end of the first block of six games.

Dhankot, at the end of first block of six games of Round 1, has taken a sizeable lead of 135 pins over second-placed elite squad member Pratyek Satya of Karnataka, who finished the day with 1210 pins. Defending champion Dhruv Sarda of Delhi was third with 200.67 average from 1204 pin fall after first block of six games.

Shabbir was on a roll scoring 200-plus scores in all six games -- 236, 201, 243, 223, 233 and 209.

Sarda started off well with a score of 216 and bowled consistently in the next five games but had three open frames in the final game and finished with a low score of 166.

Among the local contenders Salman Khan N and former national champion Vijay Punjabi are in sixth and seventh position with an average of 197.67 and 197.00 follwoing pinfalls of 1186 and 1182 respectively.