SHALIN ZULKIFLI (Pic above)27/05/08
By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my
SHALIN Zulkifli created history by becoming the first national bowler to turn professional in the United States.
The 31-year-old Shalin, will play her first professional tournament in the Professional Bowlers’ Association (PBA) West regional event - Camarillo Bowl Open in California, United States, starting on Friday.
The PBA regional tournaments are ranking events for the nationwide women’s Grand Finals in the end of the year.
Only the top ten ranked women bowlers from the regional events will get to compete in the Grand Finals.
Shalin said she was happy to finally realise her dreams of turning professional.
"The Camarillo event will be one of many tournaments, I will be competing in before I report back for national training in the end of next month," said Shalin yesterday.
"My goal in the regional tournaments is to qualify for the grandfinals. However, it will not be easy as I will have to compete against top professionals."
Shalin, who won three gold medals in last year’s Korat Sea Games, will also be using the regional events to fine tune her game before the Asian Championships in Hong Kong on June 2-12.
Shalin has been exempted from the Asian Championships centralised training which starts next month.
Meanwhile, Esther Cheah, who is down for a three month semester break, will compete in her first Asian Tour event for almost a year at the ongoing Singapore Open.
Esther, 22, is currently persuing a degree in psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States.
Shalin and Esther are the automatic choices for the national women’s team for the Asian event while World Ranking Masters champions Wendy Chai, Sharon Koh, Zan dra Aziela, Zatil Iman, Choy Poh Lai and Sin Li Jane will be vying for the other four spots in the team.
The team is expected to be named after the Singapore Open.
Zulmazran Zulkifli, Alex Liew, Daniel Lim, Aaron Kong, Adrian Ang, Mohd Noer Said, Syafiq Ridhwan, Zaid Izlan and Nor Aiman are among the contenders for six spots in the men’s team.
Meanwhile, in the Singapore Open, Zandra Aziela leads the women’s qualifliers on 902 followed by Sharon Koh 901 and Singapore’s Veleria Teo (896).
Zatil Iman is the women’s defending champion.
The national men bowlers have yet to roll off in the event.
By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my
SHALIN Zulkifli created history by becoming the first national bowler to turn professional in the United States.
The 31-year-old Shalin, will play her first professional tournament in the Professional Bowlers’ Association (PBA) West regional event - Camarillo Bowl Open in California, United States, starting on Friday.
The PBA regional tournaments are ranking events for the nationwide women’s Grand Finals in the end of the year.
Only the top ten ranked women bowlers from the regional events will get to compete in the Grand Finals.
Shalin said she was happy to finally realise her dreams of turning professional.
"The Camarillo event will be one of many tournaments, I will be competing in before I report back for national training in the end of next month," said Shalin yesterday.
"My goal in the regional tournaments is to qualify for the grandfinals. However, it will not be easy as I will have to compete against top professionals."
Shalin, who won three gold medals in last year’s Korat Sea Games, will also be using the regional events to fine tune her game before the Asian Championships in Hong Kong on June 2-12.
Shalin has been exempted from the Asian Championships centralised training which starts next month.
Meanwhile, Esther Cheah, who is down for a three month semester break, will compete in her first Asian Tour event for almost a year at the ongoing Singapore Open.
Esther, 22, is currently persuing a degree in psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States.
Shalin and Esther are the automatic choices for the national women’s team for the Asian event while World Ranking Masters champions Wendy Chai, Sharon Koh, Zan dra Aziela, Zatil Iman, Choy Poh Lai and Sin Li Jane will be vying for the other four spots in the team.
The team is expected to be named after the Singapore Open.
Zulmazran Zulkifli, Alex Liew, Daniel Lim, Aaron Kong, Adrian Ang, Mohd Noer Said, Syafiq Ridhwan, Zaid Izlan and Nor Aiman are among the contenders for six spots in the men’s team.
Meanwhile, in the Singapore Open, Zandra Aziela leads the women’s qualifliers on 902 followed by Sharon Koh 901 and Singapore’s Veleria Teo (896).
Zatil Iman is the women’s defending champion.
The national men bowlers have yet to roll off in the event.
