Pandelela Rinong (left) and Leong Mun Yee in action in the 10m synchro platform .yesterday.
LEONG Mun Yee ended a 12-year wait spanning four Commonwealth Games after she and partner Pandelela Rinong saved their best for last to clinch the 10m synchro platform silver at the Dr SPM Aquatic Complex yesterday.
It was Malaysia's first Commonwealth Games diving medal in the women's category and both divers were filled with joy, especially as they were lying fourth after three dives and in danger of being upstaged by younger teammates Cheong Jun Hoong and Traisy Vivien Tukiet, who were second.But the third dive, which Mun Yee said is their secret weapon, took them to second place behind Australia's Olympic silver medallists Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak while Jun Hoong-Traisy finished fifth.
"We were confident that we would be able to place ourselves in the medal places as we have been working on this dive in training," said Mun Yee.
The three and a half somersault pike was so well executed that the Malaysians scored 82.56, the only dive of the evening that breached the 80-point mark.The Malaysians scored a total 328.38 points for the silver to the Australians 335.76. Australia also took the bronze through Briony Cole and Anabelle Smith.
Pandelela said errors in the earlier dives probably cost them the gold."The scoring by the judges was also a little questionable as well as the Australians seemed to get some high marks despite not doing too well in the earlier dives," said Pandelela.Still, it has been a good year for Pandelela, who won two silver at the Youth Olympics in Singapore and has now added the Commonwealth medal.
She has the 10m platform today while Mun Yee will be competing in the 1m and 3m individual springboard events.Mun Yee, partnering youngster Ng Yan Yee, didn't fare well in the 3m synchronised springboard as they finished last in the six-pair event.Gold medallists in last year's Laos Sea Games, the Malaysians could only score 260.04 points.Yeoh Ken Nee also had to bow to the emergence of younger divers as he relinquished the men's 1m springboard silver he won in Melbourne four years ago. Ken Nee finished fourth with 400.10 points.Bryan Nickson Lomas was seventh, scoring 370.80 points while Muhammad Fakhrul Md Zain finished 11th with 260.04.
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