SINGAPORE, June 15 — When Malaysia hosts the next SEA Games in 2017, its athletes will face even greater levels of expectation to perform. But for its bowling team, they may have to do without Shalin Zulkifli.

The 37-year-old, one of Asia’s greatest female keglers, has admitted she does not know if she will still be competing in two years’ time.

The five-time Malaysian Sportswoman of the Year had contemplated retirement in the past, including calling it a day after last year’s Asian Games in Incheon. However, the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) convinced her to shelve those plans and be part of Malaysia’s squad for the 2015 SEA Games.

“I am keeping my options open so I really don’t know (if I will retire). I planned to quit after Asian Games last year, but our president asked me to stay for SEA Games,” said Shalin.

“I don’t know. I am the oldest on the team and I have been bowling for 23 years. I will go with the flow and see how it goes,” she added, before hinting she could take her career outside of her homeland.

Having won almost every major title there is in tenpin bowling, Shalin believes the only challenge left for her now is to compete in the professional leagues in America. That is why even the lure of a final hurrah on home soil in her native Kuala Lumpur at the next SEA Games might not be enough for her to continue.

“I might try playing in the professional league in the US after this. I have achieved everything else but that — it’s a challenge I would like to try,” she said.

The constant strain of competition has taken its toll on Shalin, with injuries in recent years making it increasingly difficult for her to stay fit and maintain her form.

But her experience and nerves of steel under pressure are why she remains a mainstay of Malaysia’s national bowling squad, even though she was hit with a three-month suspension a decade ago for alleged misconduct at the 2005 World Championships in Denmark.

Her influence in the women’s team-of-five event at the Orchid Country Club last Friday was palpable, as she helped Malaysia claim their first gold medal in the event at the SEA Games since 2007 with a 6,067 pinfall total, ahead of Singapore (6,012) and bronze medallists the Philippines (5,776).

Coincidentally, it was at the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore that the London-born Shalin first emerged, winning two gold medals as a 15-year-old prodigy. She went on to become Asia’s top-ranked female kegler in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, and was named International Bowler of the Year in 2002.

In 2003, she was part of the Malaysian side that won the women’s team-of-five gold medal at the World Championships, before being inducted into the International Bowling Hall of Fame the following year.

“It is difficult to always be at the top. There are many times when I felt like giving up — one example would be at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia when I didn’t win the gold, even with a lot of people expecting me to win it,” said the two-time Asian Games champion.

“My lifespan in bowling has been very long. In the last few years I’ve had a lot of injuries and sometimes it’s hard for you to stay positive and keep going but you have to keep believing and working hard.” — TODAY