SHANGHAI: London Olympic-hopeful Wendy Ng Yan Yee kept her nerves in check to make a sweet World Championships debut with veteran Leong Mun Yee on the first day of the diving competition here yesterday.
Wendy, who celebrated her 18th birthday here last Monday, paired up with Mun Yee to qualify for the women’s 3m synchronised springboard final for the first time.
The Malaysian duo had a slow start in the preliminaries. They found themselves in 16th spot out of the 18-pair field after the first two dives.
Great show: Leong Mun Yee (left) and Wendy Ng in action during the women’s 3m synchronised springboard final at the World Championships in Shanghai yesterday. — AZMAN GHANI / The StarA score of 81.20 in the third dive pushed the Malaysian pair up the rankings and they eventually booked their place in the final with a total of 254.40 points to finish 11th. Only the top 12 pairs advanced to the final.
Wendy-Mun Yee, the silver medallists in the same discipline at the Guangzhou Asian Games last November, went on to finish 10th in the final with a 264.60 total to keep their status as the second best pair in the Asia behind the formidable Chinese pair of He Zi-Wu Mingxia.
He Zi-Mingxia, who led from the start till the end of the five-dive competition, claimed the first gold medal of the championships with a total of 356.40 points. Canada’s Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel took the silver with 213.50 points, while Australian duo Anabelle Smith and Sharleen Stratton claimed third on 306.90 points.
Wendy was pleased with her performance, considering that she hardly trained together with Mun Yee.
“Mun Yee was focusing her preparation in the women’s 10m synchronised platform with Pandelela (Rinong). I was on my own most of the time concentrating on the individual springboard.
“I did not have high hopes of making a big impact in the 3m synchronised springboard as I seldom got to train together with Mun Yee.
“This is also the first time I’m diving at a world championships and it’s a bit unnerving.
“But it’s a good experience. Now, I hope to perform better in the 3m springboard individual,” said Wendy, who earned her way into the elite squad after she partnered Mun Yee to bag the SEA Games gold medal in Laos two years ago.
The Kuala Lumpur-born lass, who sat for her SPM exam last year, is now concentrating fully on diving in the hope of winning a ticket to next year’s Olympics.
“I hope to be ready to challenge strongly at the second qualifying tournament – the World Cup in London next year. There are 18 places on offer there. It is harder here as only the top 12 finalists gets to qualify for the Olympics. I’m happy if I can get into the top 18 semi-finals here,” added Wendy.
Cheong Jun Hoong will be the only Malaysian in the fray today. Jun Hoong will dive in the women’s 1m individual springboard, where she won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment