History of bowling in Nigeria
Bowling might have been recently introduced as a sport in the country but it has long been played as a recreation game in major cities in Nigeria such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The game generally is not so popular in Africa and its origin can be dated as far back as 3200BC, which made it one of the oldest games in history and it originated from Egypt and Roman Empire of the ancient times when the game was as of then played by covering corn husk with a leather which is held together by a string serving as a bowling ball.
There are many speculations of really how long bowling has existed, in the year 1930, an anthropologist named Sir Flinders Petrie who was a British founded an artifacts from a boy's grave in Egypt which includes what looks like a bowling bowl used in the primitive times and which is believed to be more than 5000 years old.
Another German researcher William Pehle, came up with his evidence as well that the game of bowling has long been existence in around 300AD in Germany where a ball was thrown towards objects just like in recent bowling games.
With the introduction of bowling as sports in Nigeria in the year 2005, there have been various sporting centres established to improve the sports/game in all rounds. One of such bowling centres is the Dome Brunswick Bowling Centre which is located in Abuja FCT, it is the first ever bowling centre in West Africa which has 6 bowling lanes.
Other bowling centres in Nigeria includes Trukadero Bowling Centre still situated in Abuja FCT, The Ventura Mall Bowling Alley in Ibadan and Let’s Go Bowling which is located in Lagos, and which is fully equipped with 10 bowling lanes.
Mr. Olubunmi Gabriel introduced in the game of bowling in the year 2005 and in 2010 Nigeria Tenpin Bowling Federation (NTBF) successfully arranged the “Star of Nigeria got Talent bowling competition for the first time which was regarded as the first step of the five years of the development program in the country.
