KUALA LUMPUR: Now that they have managed to get four Olympic quota spots, the Malaysian divers will turn their attention to getting a place in the synchronised disciplines for the first time ever.
Malaysia already have four Olympic quota spots in hand with the conclusion of the FINA Diving Asia Cup at Bukit Jalil, with Yeoh Ken Nee and Bryan Nickson Lomas fulfilling the promise to secure qualification in the men’s 3m springboard and 10m platform individual events respectively.
Bryan had earlier qualified for the men’s 3m springboard event together with Pandelela Rinong, who made the cut in the women’s 10m platform, at the World Championships in Shanghai in July.
A country can field two divers for each individual discipline and it will be almost impossible for Malaysian divers to outdo the Chinese divers.
In fact, China already secured the maximum representation at the Olympics for all disciplines in diving at the world meet, where they pulled off an historic clean sweep of all 10 gold medals at stake.
Diving head coach Yang Zhuliang admitted that it would be tough to get a medal in the individual disciplines and that “the better bet is for Malaysia to set their sights on the synchronised events”.
“Only one pair from each country can enter for the synchronised events and there will only be eight pairs, including from the host country,” said Zhuliang, who formerly coached the Australian diving back-up team.
“We have a chance to fight for a medal in the women’s 10m platform synchronised as our pair of Pandelela-Leong Mun Yee are already of world class standard.
“They have finished in the top five consistently at major competitions since being paired together. The focus now is to get them to qualify first at the World Cup in London next year.
“They have a good chance to qualify as the three countries who qualified earlier through the world meet (China, Germany and Australia) will be excluded and I hope our pair can make the top four without any problems.
“Once we have qualified, we will work on bringing up their difficulties to get them ready for the Olympics.”
Pandelela-Mun Yee chalked up a first for Malaysia when they bagged the bronze medal in the 10m platform synchronised event at the world meet in Rome two years ago.
The duo, however, failed to repeat the feat in this year’s world meet in Shanghai, where they finished fifth.
Malaysia have never qualified for the Olympics in the synchronised disciplines and Zhuliang is also targeting the men’s pairing of Bryan-Ken Nee to do it in the 3m springboard synchronised event.
“I also hope that the younger divers like Traisy Vivien, Cheong Jun Hoong and Wendy Ng Yan Yee will qualify for the Olympics at the World Cup,” he said.
The World Cup takes place in February and will be the final qualifying meet for diving where the top 18 semi-finalists will secure quota spots for their countries.
Malaysia were represented by four divers at the last Olympics in Beijing – Bryan, Pandelela, Mun Yee and Elizabeth Jimie.
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