Mun Yee Told To Focus On Fewer Events In The World Meet

PETALING JAYA: Diver Leong Mun Yee has to sacrifice the chance to win an early ticket to the London Olympics in the individual discipline at the world championships in Shanghai in July.

Chief coach Yang Zhuliang said that fielding Mun Yee in only the synchronised disciplines would allow her to focus better on the 10m platform event with partner Pandelela Rinong in their bid to repeat a historic bronze medal effort in Rome two years ago.

The duo were also silver medallists at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and Guangzhou Asian Games last year.

The stakes are higher at the world championships this time as it is the first Olympic qualifying event offer the top three pairs the tickets to the London Games.

Less work: Leong Mun Yee will only compete in the synchronised disciplines at the world championships in Shanghai in July.

Malaysia have not qualified for the synchronised disciplines in Olympic diving before and Zhuliang felt that Mun Yee-Pandelea have the ability to pull it off this time.

Mun Yee, who has represented Malaysia in the individual 3m springboard at the last three Olympics, will also partner Wendy Ng in the 3m springboard synchronised event.

“We want to free Mun Yee from the strain of competing in too many events,” said Zhuliang.

“There are preliminaries and semi-finals at the world championships and it is too taxing to go through so many dives.

“We want Mun Yee-Pandelela to defend the bronze medal won in the 10m platform synchronised event at the last championships and qualify early for the Olympics. But, of course, the competition is stronger compared to two years ago.

“Mun Yee can still attempt to qualify for the individual events through the World Cup in London next year if we are assured of a place in the synchronised event.”

Mun Yee and Pandelela and six other divers bound for the world championships left for Rostock last night for the German Open.

The outing in the German Open, which is part of the Diving Grand Prix circuit, was arranged at the last minute as Zhuliang felt the divers needed more competitive exposure ahead of the world championships.

The other female divers for the world meet are Trasie Vivien and Cheong Jun Hoong while the male divers selected are Yeoh Ken Nee, Bryan Nickson, Ooi Tze Liang and Ahmad Amsyar.

The team will go to China for a centralised training stint after the German Open.