The combined points won by Tasmania's Men's and Women's teams have propelled them into the lead after Day One of the Walter de Veer Memorial tournament at Kirwan Bowl today.

Northern Territory is lying in second place on 49 points, 9 points behind the leaders, with Western Australia third on 46 points. Making their debut appearance in this year's Walter de Veer tournament, North Queensland is in hot pursuit, just one point behind Western Australia..

A highlight of play saw a Personal Best 275 game by Garry Lee from Launceston in Game 4 of today's 6-game series. Buoyed by Tasmania's lead at the end of today's play, Lee was nevertheless conservative in his prediction about the tournament outcome. "It doesn't matter till the last game" he said smiling, "and the best part of it is the enjoyment of bowling with the other interstate teams" he added.

Established in 1996 and now firmly established as one of the most popular events of the sport’s Adult National Championships, the tournament is named in honour of the late Walter de Veer AM, MBE, a Hall of Fame member of the sport’s national governing body, Tenpin Bowling Australia.

The purpose of the Walter de Veer Memorial Tournament is to determine annually the best State/Territory representative team of bowlers with averages not exceeding 180 in the Men’s Division and 170 in the Women’s Division in a handicapped competition. Each team consists of seven players, with five on the Lanes at any one time.

Play resumes at 9am tomorrow morning, with the competition scheduled to finish around 4.30 pm on Wednesday.

Live scores and photographs from the Walter de Veer Memorial tournament can be viewed on TBA’s official website -www.tenpin.org.au.