PETALING JAYA: Common-wealth Games champion diver Pandelela Rinong just missed out on a second consecutive medal in the FINA Diving World Series by a whisker in the women’s 10m platform individual at the Water Cube Aquatics Centre in Beijing last night.
Pandelela garnered 357.05 after the fifth and final dive to be denied the bronze by Australian Alexandra Croak by a margin of 0.45.
China’s Olympic champion Chen Ruolin earned her second consecutive gold medal by finishing on top with 426 points.
Another world champion in the making, 15-year-old Hu Yadan, gave China the silver as well with 423.05 points.
It was an agonising finish for 18-year-old Pandelela after fighting her way back to medal contention after placing last in the field of six finalists after the first two dives.
Pandelela had reached the final after finishing third in her semi-finals earlier and it was still a laudable performance from her despite ending without a medal.
Pandelela finished ahead of reigning world champion Paola Espinosa in the elite field, which is only extended to the top 10 ranked divers from the world and continental rankings.
Pandelela pulled off a first for Malaysia in the prestigious series by bagging the silver in the same discipline behind Ruolin in the first leg in Moscow a week ago.
Pandelela still has another chance to bag a medal from Beijing as she will compete in the women’s 10m platform synchronised event with Mun Yee tonight.
Pandelela and Mun Yee are the only Malaysians to qualify for the four-leg series this year.
The remaining legs will be held in Sheffield (April 15-16) and Mexico (April 22-23).
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