Bowling has a long and rich history, and today it is one of the most popular sports in the world. A
 British anthropologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, discovered in the 1930's a collection of objects in a child's
 grave in Egypt that appeared to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, then
 bowling traces its ancestry to 3200 BC.   (more here) The first standardized rules were established in
New York City, on September 9, 1895,   when the   first official governing body of bowling was formed.
It was known as the American Bowling Congress (ABC). The membership was mostly men although
 women were permitted by ABC rules to join. In 1916, the Women's International Bowling Congress
 (WIBC) was formed by a group of 40 women, and served as a partner organization with the ABC
through 2004. The Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) was established in 1982, after
 previously existing as the American Junior Bowling Congress, specifically to serve youth
 bowlers from pre-school through collegiate level.