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| Pandelela Rinong (left) and Leong Mun Yee will be taking part. |
The seven Olympic-bound diving squad will compete in the Montreal leg of the FINA Grand Prix, which starts tomorrow, where national coach Yang Zhuliang wants his charges to try out improved routines in pursuit of at least an Olympic medal.
As for the national swimmers. they will be bidding to crack into the 'A' timing category to earn automatic Olympic berths at the four-day Malaysian Open, which begins today in Bukit Jalil but coach Paul Birmingham is not counting on any of them to achieve it.
Bryan Nickson Lomas leads the diving team, also comprising Huang Qiang, Yeoh Ken Nee, Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Leong Mun Yee and Wendy Ng in Montreal, where they have a chance to win medals as China are sending their back-up squad.
Traisy Vivien, also an Olympic qualifier, however, did not travel with the team last weekend as she is recovering from a foot injury that may put her out of the London Games.
She is expected to return to training only next month but Zhuliang will monitor her progress before deciding whether she should be replaced at the Olympics.
Bryan, who has qualified for three Olympic events, needs to improve his consistency and he will be using the Montreal leg to test his mettle.
He breached the 500-point mark for the first time to retain his 10m platform gold medal at last November's Sea Games and in February, executed one of the most difficult dives in the sport at the World Cup in London.
The Kuching-born athlete impressed by executing a near perfect 4.1 four-and-a half somersault dive in his fourth attempt in the platform final in London.
Bryan, however, was only average in his other five attempts and eventually finished eighth but earned an Olympic spot.
He has been training for the two-and-a half backward twist somersault, which is also a difficult routine.
"Bryan has started testing this routine but I want to keep this under wraps to surprise China at the Olympics.
"He, however, can only polish it during our six-week training stint in China scheduled just before the Olympics," said Zhuliang.
"I want my divers to use the Montreal event and later the third leg in Fort Lauderdale to test and polish their routines.
"Although China are only sending their second stringers, it will still be tough as their back-up squad are as good as their regular divers," Zhuliang added.
In swimming, Kevin Yeap, Khoo Cai Lin, Siow Yi Ting and former national swimmer Chui Lai Kwan have met the Olympic invitational time but they need to clock faster times to guarantee their spots.
Any swimmer who meets the much faster Olympic 'A' qualifying time is an automatic entry for London.
The Malaysian Open will be an ideal platform for the local swimmers as the event has attracted foreign participation from a regional Australian team, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Iran, among others.
Birmingham said: "Winning titles will not mean a thing in this competition if they can't clock faster times for Olympic qualification.
"I hope the foreign swimmers will give our locals the much-needed push to swim faster."
Birmingham said the swimmers who have met the invitation times must improve on them as he believes that most of the Olympic qualifiers will be from the same category.
"It is very competitive and my swimmers must keep improving or risk being left out as I believe that only 20 per cent of participants of each Olympic event will qualify through 'A' times," he added.
Read more: AQUATICS: Final push begins - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/aquatics-final-push-begins-1.80210#ixzz1uA5xRuHT
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