Shabbir starts with a bang

The Tamil Nadu bowler, who is a member of the Eilte men’s national squad, felled a total of 1365 pins for a cumulative average of 227.50 over six games at Star City.

Nearest rival Akaash Ashok Kumar of Karnataka was placed second with 1317 (219.50) while Delhi’s Dhruv Sarda brought down 1266 pins (211) to lie third.

Shabbir also set a new national record for total pinfall scored in a block of six games in long oil conditions with his 1365 total, breaking Karnataka bowler Srinath Pobbathi's record of 1292 set during the National Championship last year in Bangalore.

Results: Men (round of 32, six games): Shabbir Dhankot (TN) (1365 pins, 227.50 average) 1; Akaash Ashok Kumar (Kar) (1317, 219.50) 2; Dhruv Sarda (Del) (1266, 211) 3; Shashi Kumar (Kar) (1191, 198.50) 4; Dinesh Kumar G (TN) (1185, 197.50) 5; Prathyek Satya (Kar) (1181, 196.83) 6; Ganesh NT (TN) (1111, 185.17) 7; Ranjit Rai (Del) (1109, 184.83) 8; Himanshu Puri (Del) (1103, 183.83) 9; Hitesh Khanna (Del) (1062, 177) 10; Samarjeet Kothari (TN) (1061, 176.83) 11; N Senthil Kumar (TN) (1058, 176.33) 12; Omkar Vengala (Kar) (1056, 176) 13; Rajesh Lotlikar (Mah) (1055, 175.83) 14; Rajesh Mittal (Del) (1044, 174) 15; Kapil Mohan (Ker) (1044, 174) 16; Sajal Sahni (1034, 172.33) 17; Sameer Joshi (Mah) (1029, 171.5) 18; Anil Kumar (Kar) (1016, 169.33) 19; Akram Khan (Del) (1005, 167.5) 20; Sreenivasa Rao (Pud) (1003, 167.17) 21; Mohit Kalra (Mah) (987, 164.50) 22; Prajwal SD (Kar) (982, 163.67) 23; Vijeesh Kumar TV (AP) (980, 163.33) 24; Nikesh Ranka (TN) (967, 161.17) 25; Anu Surendran (Ker) (938, 156.33) 26; Harjith Singh (Pun) (932, 155.33) 27; Ulpala Abhilash Reddy (AP) (927, 154.5) 28; Utkarsh Sinha (UP) (873, 145.5) 29; Nilesh Bandiwadekar (Ker) (834, 139) 30; Ujwal Sagar Talwar (Har) (824, 137.33) 31; Vaibhav Bhatt (UP) (777, 129.50).