BACK-UP divers Mohd Fakhrul Izzat and Ahmad Amsyar have been dropped from the national diving team bound for the World Aquatics Championships which starts tomorrow in Shanghai.
This means only eight divers, led by Yeoh Ken Nee and Pandelela Rinong, will be gunning for Olympic spots in the event.
Fakhrul and Ahmad, who were training with the squad for over a month in Dali, China, were both excluded by the National Sports Council (NSC).
Diving head coach Yang Zhuliang had planned to enter the duo for the men's 1m springboard individual and 3m springboard synchronised disciplines, but Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said NSC wanted the team to focus only on Olympic events.
NSC had already cut down the budget allocation for all sports under its programme this year by 30 percent.
"The world meet this year is one of the few Olympic qualifying events and the priority is to get our divers to qualify from here. The 1m springboard is not an Olympic event and we will probably not have any divers this time," said Chong "Fakhrul and Amsyar, however, will be considered for training stints in China as they need to prepare for the Indonesia Sea Games," Chong added.
The diving team to the World Championships comprise Bryan Nickson Lomas, Ken Nee, Ooi Tze Liang (men), Pandelela, Leong Mun Yee, Traise Vivien, Cheong Jun Hoong and Wendy Ng Yan Yee (women).
The divers arrived in Shanghai two days ago and are scheduled to have three days of practice in the competition pool before the start of the Championships. "The three-day practice will allow them to get used to the outdoor pool. Everyone in the team is free from injuries," said Chong. Pandelela and Mun Yee made history when the duo took bronze in the women's 10m platform synchronised final at the last championships in Rome two years ago. It was the country's first World Championships medal in aquatics.
Pandelela also finished fifth in the 10m platform individual, the best ever placing by a Malaysian woman diver at a world meet.
Besides diving, Malaysia will be represented in swimming and synchronised swimming. The swimmers who made the cut this time are Khoo Cai Lin (women's 400m freestyle), Chan Kah Yan (women's 50m backstroke), Christina Loh (women's 50m breaststroke), Chui Lai Kwan (women's 50m freestyle) and Kevin Yeap (men's 800m freestyle).
The synchronised swimmers entered for the team discipline for the first time are Katrina Ann Hadi, Lee Yhing Huey, Xyanne Lee, Tan May Mei, Mandy Yeap, Yeo Pei Ling, Emanuelle Mah, Shareen Png and Tasha Jane.
Read more: Aquatics: Fakhrul, Ahmad dropped from squad http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/dibnasd/Article/index_html#ixzz1Sc0KmW8Z
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