Jasmine Lai Claims Two More Gold Medals In Asian Age-Group Meet

PETALING JAYA: SEA Games-bound diver Jasmine Lai continued to serve notice of her talent as she claimed two more gold medals for Malaysia in the Asian Age-Group Aquatics Championships in Jakarta.

The 16-year-old partnered Kam Ling Kar to bag the women’s 10m platform synchro Open gold medal earlier in the day ahead of Macau pair I Teng-Cheong Pui Man.

Jasmine went on to grab a second gold medal in the girls’ 10m platform individual Group A (16-18) final ahead team-mate Ling Kar.

Jasmine finished comfortably ahead with 369.10 points while Ling Kar had the silver with 339.20 points ahead of Japan’s Yuka Kobayashi (320.15).

One more for the collection: Jasmine Lai and Kam Ling Kar bagged a gold medal in the women’s 10m platform synchro Open in Jakarta Sunday.

It was Jasmine’s first individual success in the biennial Asian age-group meet.

Jasmine-Ling Kar had also claimed gold in the women’s 3m springboard synchro Open final and the double feat will give the duo the impetus to successfully follow in the footsteps of another Ipoh-born diver Leong Mun Yee, who has made the country proud at all levels of the sport.

The duo will make their SEA Games debuts in Indonesia next month and Jasmine is happy to stamp her mark in the Asian age-group meet.

“This is the second time I won the platform individual gold medal ahead of Ling Kar. The first was at the Asia Pacific Rim Junior Invitational meet in Wellington in August.

“The Chinese divers are not competing and we are happy to be able to make our presence felt here ahead of the SEA Games.

“It is a good boost to our confidence. The coach has not informed us the events we are doing at the SEA Games but we are ready as we trained for both (springboard and platform),” said Jasmine, who are the best of friends with Ling Kar.

The Malaysian diving team have raked in a total medals haul of 5-8-1 so far with one day of competition to go.

There were also three more silver medals delivered by Loh Jiayi in the girl;s 10m platform Group B (14-15), Muhd Nazreen in boy’s 10m platform Group C (12-13) and Adrian Chan in the boy’s 10m platform Group A.

The two gold medals earlier came from Chew Yiwei in boy’s 1m springboard Group A and Wendy Ng Yan Yee in girl’s 3m springboard Open.

The Asian age-group meet attracted participation from 14 countries.