The leagues being considered include one for the corporates, ladies, senior citizen and media. Others may follow later when the concept catches up. Says AMF Bowling India director (business development) Kapil Kaul: ``The idea is to promote bowling as a competitive sport rather than a mere leisure and recreational activity.''

The company is currently negotiating with different bowling centres in Delhi for promoting the league concept. It will rope in a professional telemarketing agency and use databases to identify potential players for the different leaguesand then distribute entry forms through direct mailers. The focus of the exercise will be three-pronged: to create awareness, induce trial followed by repetition, and to create awareness among promoters about bowling as a potential investment opportunity. ``As more people take to bowling, more will be the investor confidence. Market development is the key to promote bowling as a recreational sport as well as a sound business proposition,'' said Kaul.

According to an estimate by the American Amusement Machines Associations (AAMA), the leisure and entertainment industry is expected to be in the region of Rs 22,000 crore by the year 2004.

AMF expects the bowling industry alone to be in the region of Rs 1500-1800 crore by that time, provided distribution and access for the sport is created. Besides the league system, AMF plans to promote the recently launched 20-lane bowling centre at Lower Parel in Mumbai. ``We intend to showcase the Mumbai centre--which is the largest in South-East Asia -- to potentialinvestors so that their anxieties about such a large investment is put to rest,'' said Kaul.

AMF had recently distributed over one lakh promotional coupons through the yellow pages in the Capital, to induce trials for the sport and had also co-sponsored the national bowling championship late last year.

Kaul said all the promotional activity is part of a unique investor marketing programme launched by the company in India in October 1998. The current phase of the programme--promotion of bowling leagues--follows the first phase in which the company used aggressive marketing techniques to introduce bowling as an investment opportunity.

The company sent 40,000-odd direct mailers to potential investors followed by personal presentations to three-five per cent of these respondents. Next came a series of conferences and seminars in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad and Coimbatore and participation in trade shows.

Kaul said the first phase, which is still continuing and will run concurrently with thesecond phase, has seen the company ready with a national distribution network. Besides existing centres at Delhi and Mumbai, AMF equipped bowling centres will be operational in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kathmandu within the next two months.

Now that salience for bowling as a fun and leisure activity has been established to some extent, the next step for the company is to step up its marketing efforts to maintain a dominant stake in the Indian bowling market.