KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran bowler Esther Cheah is set to make her long-awaited return to competition at the World Cup in Queensland, Australia from Nov 12-23.
The 36-year-old will don national colours for the first time since the 2019 Manila Sea Games following a successful major knee surgery.
Esther has been called up with Sin Li Jane, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman and Natasha Roslan for the national women's team, while the men's side consists of Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Rafiq Ismail, Timmy Tan and Tun Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam.
Esther is thrilled to be back for a major assignment and has vowed to repay the national selectors' faith in her.
It will be her 18th year serving the national team having been roped in 2004 at the age of 18.
Esther is a three-time world champion, winning the singles gold in Aalborg 2005 and helping Malaysia capture the team title at Monterrey 2007 and Last Vegas 2017.
After aggravating her injury in September last year. she played no part in any of the post-pandemic tournaments, including the World Championships in Dubai in November last year.
Esther eventually went under the knife to fix her knee problem and took a break in the first half of the year.
Esther, who resumed training in July, said: "It's going to be a very interesting experience for me. It feels like I'm going out on my first assignment all over again, hopefully it'll be a successful one!"
Esther, who is the most senior member in the team following Shalin Zulkifli's retirement last year, revealed that she had contemplated quitting numerous times when she was injured.
"Numerous times. Uncountable to be honest," she said.
"Rehab wasn't fun. It took an emotional, mental and physical toll on me," she said.