Asbaty elected to World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame
Diandra Asbaty can put a checkmark next to another lifetime goal — and one of the biggest — before she hits age 30.

The seven-time United States Bowling Congress Team USA member recently was elected to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, becoming the first American woman to earn the honor.

Asbaty, a USBC Director who resides in Chicago, was the lone athlete to earn election in 2005, getting the necessary votes on two-thirds of the 13-member selection panel.

"This is probably the highest honor of my bowling career," said Asbaty, who has 52 international medals to her credit. "This was definitely a goal of mine. I'm thankful for just being considered."

Asbaty, who won the Masters gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in Malaysia and repeated as Masters champion at the 2005 American Zone Championships in Costa Rica, is the second American to be selected to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, which began inducting athletes in 1993. She joins Les Zikes, who was elected in 1999.

Other women on the 2005 ballot were fellow Team USA member Lynda Barnes of Flower Mound, Texas, Mexico's Maria Anaya, England's Zara Glover and Sweden's Lena Sulkanen.

None of the men on the ballot, which featured Sweden's Raymond Jansson, Mexico's Alvenio Martinez and Tito Reynolds, Finland's Matti Nieminen, Norway's Tore Torgersen and Belgium's Gery Verbruggen, gained the required two-thirds vote to be elected.

At 25 years and four months old, Asbaty became the youngest individual selected to the Hall of Fame. Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli was 26 years old when she was elected in 2004.

"To be elected at a relatively young age is such an honor," said Asbaty, who won the World Ranking Masters in 2004 and finished third in 2002 and 2005. "It's amazing to be listed among some of the greatest bowlers the world has ever seen."