The 35-year-old Shalin is retiring from the sport after next year's Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

KUALA LUMPUR: After taking two years to settle down, national woman bowler Shalin Zulkifli is ready to roll again.

The 35-year-old Shalin is hoping to strike it right when she competes in the six-day Euro-Med Storm International Masters Challenge, which began in Manila yesterday.

If she wins, it will end her long wait for an Open title and prove that she’s still very much in the game. Shalin last won an Open title at the Hong Kong Open in September 2010.

But, more importantly, her main goal this year is to help revive the women’s team’s glory days at Asian and world levels.

Shalin will be competing in the World Championships for the last time – in the United States in August – and dreams of steering the women’s team to the gold medal which they last won in Mexico six years ago.

The 35-year-old Shalin, who has been bowling for more than two decades, is retiring from the sport after the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. And Shalin believes that it’s time to roll back the good times.

“There were many things going on in my life over the last two years ... but thankfully I’ve managed to keep my bowling career on track. Now, it’s time to step it up,” said Shalin, who will leave with the team to Manila tomorrow.

“It’ll be great to start winning titles again but my focus is on the World Championships. I’ll retire from the sport in 2014 after the Asiad ... and this world meet will probably be my last.”

Shalin did not compete at the last world meet in Hong Kong in 2011 because she had just given birth then. That proved to be a “slow” year for her and she wasn’t even included in the elite programme.

Although Shalin did not win any titles this year, she earned the right to be in the elite squad based on her consistently strong showing last year. The others in the elite team are Esther Cheah, Sharon Koh, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, Sin Li Jane and Jacqueline Jenelee Sijore.

“The team event in the world meet has always had a special spot in my heart. This year, I hope our women’s team will go out and show that we are among the best in the world,” said Shalin, who was in the victorious women’s team at the 2003 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur and the 2007 series in Mexico. Malaysia failed to win any medals at the last two editions.

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