Action begins for Siti Zalina today, and she is raring to go

VETERAN lawn bowler

Siti Zalina Ahmad is glad the wait is finally over as she is all prepared for war.

The national lawn bowl squad have been based in Gold Coast since Feb 27 in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

And the 38-year-old Siti is all ready to help Malaysia end their 12-year gold drought when they take on Cook Islands and Namibia in the Group A of the fours competition at the Broadbeach Bowls Club today.

The others in the group are Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Siti will feature in the fours with Auni Fathiah Kamis, Nur Fidrah Noh and Azlina Arshad.

The policewoman, who was the last Malaysian gold medallist, having bagged the single crown at the 2002 Manchester and 2006 Melbourne Games, hopes to get it right.

“We’ve been here for two months now and we’re quite acclimatised to the weather here. It is either hot or rainy,” said Siti.

“The biggest challenge so far is the strong winds. It is quite random but it plays a huge factor during competition.

"We are very ready. It’s like we’re just waiting to go to war. Our target is to improve on the two silver medals won at the 2014 Games.

Siti, who finished empty-handed in Glasgow four years ago, will also compete in the pairs partnering top bowler Emma Firyana Saroji.