SHALIN & CO BAG TRIOS BRONZE

Shalin gels well with Victoria and Syazwani to bag bronze

KUALA LUMPUR: National bowler Shalin Zulkifli may be 38 and competing in only her third tournament after returning from a six-month injury layoff.

Yet, she showed that she has lost none of her combative spirit as she combined superbly with youngsters Victoria Chin and Nur Syazwani Sahar to win a bronze medal for Malaysia in the women’s trios event at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships (ATBC) in Hong Kong.

The Malaysians were in the fifth spot a day earlier after the first block of nine games. Yesterday, they pulled their socks up in the second block of nine games to amass a total 3,731 pinfalls – just 56 pins behind gold medallists Japan and 12 behind silver medallists South Korea.

Malaysia’s second women’s trios of Esther Cheah, Sin Li Jane and Syaidatul Afifah also did well to finish fourth with 3,695 pinfalls.

Shalin, who underwent foot surgery in October last year, was just happy to be back to winning ways.

“This is my first medal after coming back from the career-threatening injury,” said Shalin, who has bowled for the nation for almost three decades and whose last two outings were the Malaysian Open in May and San Marino Open last month.

“I came close to winning a medal in the doubles (in Hong Kong), but had to settle for a fourth spot ... this bronze makes up for it.”

She was also full of praise for her team-mates’ steady performances.

“It’s quite funny that the combined age of Victoria (21) and Wani (17) is equal to mine. Although they are much younger, they performed steadily,” said Shalin.

“I have never bowled with Wani in a tournament before, but we complemented each other well here.

“It’s also interesting to bowl alongside Victoria. I had coached Victoria at the last two Sukma editions, so to win a medal together with my ex-student at this level is really nice.

“We have quite a balanced team. Everyone is doing her part well. We will go all out to challenge for the women’s team title next.”

Malaysia enjoyed mixed fortunes in the men’s competition.

The first trios of Mohd Nur Aiman, Rafiq Ismail and Zulmazran Zulkifli kept pace with the leaders to finish fourth with 3,633 pinfalls.

Malaysia’s second team of Adrian Ang, Timmy Tan and Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek were inconsistent and dropped to 12th spot with 3,633 pinfalls.

Hong Kong, powered by old-timer Wu Siu Hong, took the gold with 3,931 pinfalls, followed by Thailand (3900) and South Korea (3876).