Pandelela Takes Painful Route To Silver

Pandelela Rinong (top) and Leong Mun Yee perform their routine en route to winning the silver in the synchro 10-metre platform at the Aoti Aquatics Centre yesterday.

IT was her first ever Asian Games appearance and a painful one at that but Pandelela Rinong will never trade her experience for anything.

She had to consume pain killers to mend her aching back but it was worth it as she and Leong Mun Yee teamed up to earn Malaysia the silver in the synchro 10-metre platform at the Aoti Aquatics Centre yesterday.

Bryan Nickson Lomas and Yeoh Ken Nee then earned Malaysia's second silver of the day, and fourth overall, in the synchro men's 3m springboard.

Pandelela had injured her back during centralised training in Dali, China, after last month's New Delhi Commonwealth Games and was not supposed to compete in the Asian Games.

But the 17-year-old was determined not to let the injury stop her from making her first Asian Games appearance.

"Yes, I took pain killers. I still feel the pain but it's bearable. However, we were not in our best form as we did not train much, due to my injury, in Dali," said Pandelela.

"In terms of performance, we did not execute what we were capable of doing as I did not want to aggravate my injury. We aimed for the top three and we have achieved it."

Mun Yee-Pandelela were placed only fifth in the opening dive after posting 47.40 points but took second position from the second dive onwards

The duo, who also won silver in New Delhi, recorded a combined score of 311.94 yesterday, 48 points behind China's gold medallists Chen Ruolin-Wang Hao, the Olympic champions. North Korea's Choe Kum Hui-Kim Un Hyung posted 284.64 for the bronze.

Mun Yee was also delighted to have won her second silver in the Asian Games. On Monday, she and Ng Yan Yee finished second in the synchro 3m springboard.

"We did not do anything difficult today (yesterday). But it is a big motivation for me to earn another silver on my second day here," said Mun Yee.



The 26-year-old Mun Yee will also compete in the 1m springboard (today) and 3m springboard (Friday) in Guangzhou.

In the men's synchro 3m springboard, Bryan-Ken Nee had to execute a near perfect dive on their last two attempts to clinch the silver medal.

The duo were placed second after three dives but a mistake in the fourth saw them drop to third.

However, they retained second position after posting 78.21 and 80.58 in their following attempts to post 404.85, 54.75 points behind China's Luo Yutong-Qin Kai.

South Korea's Park Jo Ho-Son Seong Chel posted 388.26 to take bronze.

The Malaysian divers will compete in the men's and women's 1m springboard today.

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