KARACHI -
Islamabad team led by skipper Ijaz Ur Rehman is hot-favourite to win the professional category of the Second PTBF National Ranking Tenpin Bowling Championship 2013 currently underway at Arena Bowling Centre.
Talking to The Nation team captain Ijaz Ur Rehman, who is also the top seed of the event, said: “Nobody in history of team event had so far beaten our team and I am quite confident we would further enhance that unmatched record by clean-sweeping all the categories.” He said they were fully prepared for the prestigious event and despite lacking facilities in the Capital, Islamabad players always excelled in the past too and they would carry on the tradition of taking the glittering trophy to their city. Ijaz said singled out Karachi team as their main rivals, who had the services of some top quality players, including defending champion Shabbir Lashkarwala but was upbeat to handle them and take away the cup.
Current national No 2 and secret weapon of the capital team Zafar Iqbal said he had practiced very hard for this event both as a team and individual and was ready to play key role in his team's title quest. He said it was quite unfortunate that Islamabad players, despite having top quality talent who had won almost all the previous titles, had just have1 one bowling alley which was not in good shape. He said Karachi, who had hardly few players of international standard, have the luxury of having at least 7 clubs, where they enjoy excellent playing conditions. He requested the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order the concerned persons to allocate a piece of land to the PTBF to construct their own bowling alley for the promotion of the game.
M Hussain Chatha, who is currently the doubles champion and had the record of winning a record 9 doubles title partnering Salim Baig, said: “We have done our homework pretty well and we will win the tile as we had never lost in the past and we will defend our titles this time too.”
His doubles partner Salim said that he had prepared quite well for the vent and alongwith defending his doubles title, he would also try to take home singles title too.
Afzaal, former three-time national amateur champion said he had changed his playing style and this would be first time he would participate in an event with changed style. He was confident to give tough time to all the opponents and to play a dark horse role for his team. Team Islamabad will be in action from today playing alongside other top teams who had gathered from across the country.