Shabery And Fans Greet Heroes At KLIA

SEPANG: The badminton, aquatics, squash and athletics squads returned home from New Delhi yesterday.

But it was the highly-successful shuttlers and young diving sensation Pandelela Rinong who received the loudest applause on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday.
The squash team returned without gold medallist Nicol David, who will be competing in the Mexico Open (from Oct 18-24). Also absent were Ong Beng Hee, Mohd Azlan Iskandar and Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan, who will be featuring in a tournament in Egypt.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek was at the airport early in the morning to welcome the athletes home and he was especially pleased with Pandelela’s golden debut at the Games.

Officials from the National Sports Council (NSC) and students from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) were also at the airport to welcome the players home with bouquets of flowers.
The 17-year-old Pandelela created history by winning the first ever gold medal in diving at the Commonwealth Games.

The Bidayuh lass even upstaged world class Australian divers Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak to win the women’s 10m platform gold medal.

She also won a silver with Leong Mun Yee in the synchronised event.

Pandelela, who only joined the national senior team three years ago, was glad that her hard training paid off.

“I feel really honoured to be congratulated by the Sports Minister, NSC officials and my school teachers and classmates at the airport,” said Pandelela, who will receive a total of RM100,000 from the government as incentive for winning a gold and a silver at the Games.

“I am also happy to be the first diver to win the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. It is indeed a great achievement for me.

“I will not be taking a break as I will leave for China soon to continue my training for the Guangzhou Asian Games.”

Pandelela will continue her training under Chinese coaches Yang Zhuliang and Huang Xiang.
“My mission now is to win medals at the Asian Games. It will not be easy to strike a gold in the Asiad as China have world class divers. I will be more than happy if I can win a silver in the 10m platform event,” said Pandelela, who will also feature in the 10m platform synchronised event.
For the record, the shuttlers bagged four gold medals through Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Koo Kien Kiat-Tan Boon Heong (men’s doubles) and Kien Kiat-Chin Eei Hui (mixed doubles) and the team event.