Coach Confident More Will Make The Cut To London

SHANGHAI: Malaysia are the only Asian country other than China to have their divers qualify for the London Olympics a year earlier.

But it could have been better than the two Olympic quota spots won by Bryan Nickson Lomas and Pandelela Rinong in the men’s 3m springboard and women’s 10m platform individual when the World Championships ended in Shanghai yesterday.

Hopes were on Pandelela-Mun Yee repeating their bronze medal achievement in Rome two years ago but they settled for sixth placing in the women’s 10m synchro platform this time while Bryan failed to rise to the occasion in the men’s 10m platform individual this time.

Diving in: Pandelela Rinong (foreground) and Leong Mun Yee compete in the final of the women’s 10m synchronised platform event in the FINA World Championships at the Oriental Sports Centre in Shanghai last week. — AFP

Bryan only managed a poor 24th in the preliminaries and failed to maintain his record of reaching the final in two previous outings.

However, head coach Yang Zhuliang is optimistic the diving cast for the London Olympics will grow after the World Cup in London early next year.

The World Cup taking place in February will not just serve as a test for the diving venue for the Olympics but offers 18 more places for the individual disciplines.

Four more pairs not including the hosts will also qualify for the synchronised events and Zhuliang said it will be the mission awaiting Pandelela-Mun Yee.

“We are still on track to qualify for the other events like the women’s 10m platform synchro, the men’s platform and women’s springboard.

“Pandelela-Mun Yee should qualify next year with four more spots open as China, Germany and Australia have taken the first three spots from the world championships.

“Other than China, we are on par with the other top pairs in women’s 10m platform synchro and realistically they can fight for a medal at the Olympics.

“Bryan was a bit tired after competing in the men’s springboard the day before and he could not keep his focus on the platform yesterday. The platform discipline is very competitive and Bryan must target to reach the semi-finals at least at the World Cup to confirm his place in the Olympics,” he said.

Malaysia were represented by four divers – Bryan, Pandelela, Mun Yee and Elizabeth Jimie – at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but Zhuliang is hopeful that the numbers will be bigger.

“Cheong Jun Hoong and Wendy Ng also have a chance in the women’s 3m springboard while Ken Nee must aim for the men’s springboard during the World Cup.

“Trasie Vivien did well to reach the top -8 semi-finals and she stands a good chance to make the cut next year.

“But there’s a lot of hard work to be done on everyone to get them to be consistent and ready for the challenges,” he added.

Besides the World Cup, Malaysia will also host the Diving Asia Cup in Bukit Jalil at the end of September, which is a continental qualifiers for the Olympics.

However, only the respective winners of the individual springboard and platform will qualify and Malaysia’s chances depend very much on whether China decides to field their top divers.