SEA Games: Shalin pulls off nail-biting win to secure bowling gold

Malaysian bowler Shalin Zulkifli won the 2017 SEA Games women's masters gold medal in the most dramatic fashion as she overcame Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia on Friday.

In masters bowling, bowlers roll for 16 games to determine their standings on a league table, in which the top three will be guaranteed medal finishes and progress to a single-elimination finals.

The second and third place bowlers will play against each other, while the first seed will automatically qualify for the gold medal match and receive a one-game immunity, allowing him/her to have a rematch straightaway if he/she loses.

Having qualified for the finals as the second seed, Shalin proceeded to defeat Singapore's Shayna Ng 224-199 and beat Tannya 246-220, forcing a second match.

In the rematch, the 39-year-old struggled in the initial stages against the Indonesian bowler, who rolled five consecutive strikes midway through the game to open a huge lead.

However, Shalin found an opening when Tannya missed a crucial spare in the eighth frame, allowing her to catch up.

In the final frame, she knocked down nine pins to win 223-222 and bagged her first masters gold since 1999.

As for the men's masters event, Rafiq Ismail had a more straightforward path, claiming the first seed and outbowled Thailand's Yannaphon Larpapharat in the final to win the gold medal, while compatriot Alex Liew took home bronze.

With seven gold medals won in total, it marked Malaysia's most successful bowling outing at the SEA Games since 2001, when they also won seven.