PANDELELA-MUN YEE WIN FIRST-EVER SILVER MEDAL

PETALING JAYA: The plucky duo of Pandelela Rinong-Leong Mun Yee showed nerves of steel to recover from a poor opening effort to nail a first-ever silver medal for Malaysia in the women’s 10m platform synchronised final of the FINA Diving World Series in Beijing last night.

Pandelela-Mun Yee garnered 50.40 and were placed last behind main Australian and Canadian rivals after the first dive at the Water Cube Aquatics Centre, venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But the duo improved to third place after the next dive. They nudged ahead of Australian pair Alexandra Croak-Melissa Wu on a slim margin of 0.2 point after the third dive.

Near perfection: The Malaysian pair of Pandelela Rinong (front) and Leong Mun Yee making their final dive in the 10m platform synchronised final of the FINA Diving World Series at the Water Cube in Beijing yesterday. — CHOW HOW BAN / The Star

And then an impressive fifth and final dive earned Pandelela-Mun Yee 83.52 points and the first silver medal for the country in the discipline at the prestigious series.

Pandelela-Mun Yee amassed 338.46 points ahead of Croak-Melissa, who only managed 78.72 with their last dive to take bronze with 331.50 points.

China’s reigning Olympic champions Chen Ruolin-Wang Hao claimed the gold as expected with a total of 365.52 points.It was their second consecutive win in the series after emerging tops in the opening leg in Moscow last week.

The silver medal must have brought satisfaction for the Malaysian combination after narrowly missing out on a medal in the discipline in Moscow.

This is also the second medal for Pandelela in the series. She made history with the first medal for the country – a silver in the 10m platform individual in Moscow and their performances augurs well for their chances of making another big impression in the World Championships in Shanghai in July.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong, who is in Beijing, said the silver is a good boost for the duo, especially after fighting back from last place among the six finalists.

”This is their second big achievement after taking bronze in the 2009 world championships in Rome.

“The Australians were also the Commonwealth Games gold medallists in New Delhi last year while our pair managed silver.

”If they continue to improve, they have a chance to make the podium at the world championships again and more importantly, qualify for the Olympics for the first time in the event,” said Edwin.

The world championships will offer early tickets to the London Olympics for the first top three pairs and Pandelela-Mun Yee will hope to make history as the first pair to do so for Malaysia.