Cheong Earns Her Maiden Olympic Spot In Style

PETALING JAYA: Perseverance paid off for diver Cheong Jun Hoong, who became the eighth Malaysian diver to qualify for the upcoming Olympics at the FINA Diving World Cup in London.

Jun Hoong earned her maiden Olympic appearance in style after finishing a strong seventh in the women’s 3m springboard individual preliminaries.

The 21-year-old scored an impressive 324.30 points to easily qualify for the top 18 semi-finals scheduled to take place yesterday and, more importantly, secure an Olympic quota spot in the discipline.

Another Malaysian diver, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, bombed out, only managing 223.15 points to place 41st in the field of 47 divers.

 Impressive: Malaysia’s Cheong Jun Hoong in action during the women’s 3m springboard event at the FINA Diving World Cup at the Aquatic Centre in London yesterday. — EPA

China’s reigning Olympic and world champion Wu Minxia topped the list with 376.55 ahead of her team-mate He Zi (365.25) and Italy’s Tania Cagnotto (344.25).

A steady Jun Hoong has achieved what her more illustrious team-mate Leong Mun Yee failed to do in the springboard – earn a top 10 finish at a world meet.

Malaysia joins China as the only countries from Asia to have qualified for the women’s 3m springboard individual with the Japanese and South Koreans failing to reach the targeted semi-finals.

Jun Hoong had formerly concentrated on the platform and partnered Mun Yee to gold medals in the synchro at the 2005 and 2007 SEA Games. She was asked to switch to the springboard after coming down with back and knee injuries.

And it was not just about struggling to regain her fitness as she had to bide her time with young Elizabeth Jimie, who has since quit the squad, holding firmly as the top choice for the springboard after qualifying for the Beijing Olympics.

Jun Hoong was fourth in the World University Games in Shenzhen and managed to clinch her first individual title in the 3m springboard at the Indonesia SEA Games last year.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said Jun Hong gave a very good account of herself in the preliminaries.

“Her performance was much better than what she managed at the SEA Games.

“Our mission is to get at least one into the semi-finals as we are going to have representation in all four individual Olympic events,” he said.

Edwin added that Wendy has a second chance to qualify on merit for the Olympics as she will compete in a dive-off tomorrow.

“Some countries, like China for example, have already earned the maximum two spots from the world championships last year and the dive-off is for the divers yet to qualify to fight it out for the few remaining slots.”