KUALA LUMPUR – Battling discouragement from teachers and overcoming social ridicule were among some of the obstacles that Nur Ain Nabilah Tarmizi and Aleena Ahmad Nawawi had to overcome to emerge as world champions.
The dynamic duo, who shook the nation by securing the country’s first women’s gold at the World Bowls Championship last year, are part of the 20 players shortlisted for the Asian Lawn Bowl Championship (ALBC) scheduled to take place in Pattaya, Thailand, from March 3 to 10.
Only 10 players (five men and five women) will make it to the final list of the tournament.
Speaking to Scoop, Nur Ain shared her experience of being told off by her school teacher, who advised her to prioritise her studies over sports, saying athletics would not take her places.
“My interest in this sport kicked in when I was a young girl. During my time in Labuan, I remember joining a lawn bowl workshop, and I suddenly developed an interest in this sport, delving more into it.
“In my initial stages of venturing into this sport, I received several backlashes from my teacher, who told me to focus on my studies and said sports like lawn bowls would not benefit me.
“But I made sure to continue pursuing my dream by balancing both my studies and the sport. I even moved to a sports school in Johor (Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School) to pursue my dream.
“I’m happy that I have come this far, and I’m also hoping to keep balancing myself with both my studies and the sport that I love by achieving more for the country,” added Nur Ain, who is currently pursuing a sports science course at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
Aleena echoed a similar sentiment, saying that she had once been neglected by her own friends when she first took up the sport and that her friends only started reconnecting with her once she started gaining success in the sport.
“I started playing this sport when I was 15 years old, as I was introduced to it by my school as part of the curriculum.
“The moment I started playing this sport, I fell in love with the techniques and the way the sport taught me to be a calm person.
“At one point, there were times when my friends used to neglect and tease me, saying, ‘Why don’t you just marry the sport since you’re into it so much?’
“But I always remained focused and made sure to excel in this sport, and the moment I became a world champion, many of my friends started coming back into my life and started being nice to me,” said Aleena, who is also majoring in sports science at UiTM.
The young but experienced pair already has one Commonwealth silver medal (2022 Birmingham), two SEA Games gold medals (2017 Kuala Lumpur, 2019 Manila), and one National Championship (2023) gold medal under their belt.
They also recently won the UiTM Sportswomen of the year for the third time in a row (2020-2023).
The pair further aims to use their experience in the World Bowl Championship to bring more glory to the country in the upcoming ALBC.
“After recently winning the world championship, we are more confident in helping the team perform at its best in the competitions we compete in, and we are ready to give our maximum effort in the ALBC.
“We have just started training, and under our head coach Zuraidi Puteh, our main aim is to defend the title we won in the previous edition.
“We didn’t go to the world championship to become the champions; we went there without any pressure. We were just playing our game like how we usually train at home, and we made sure to remember our basics and play with less pressure.
“We will enter this ALBC with the same approach and hope to emerge successful in this tournament as a team,” the pair added.
In last year’s ALBC edition, Malaysia emerged as overall champions after securing four gold, two silver, and two bronze medals at the Perak Lawn Bowls Arena, clinching their ninth Asian title. – February 24, 2024