Pandelela Caps Fine Outing With A First Victory In World GP Circuit

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s campaign in the Canadian Open diving championships ended on a high with Pandelela Rinong making a historic breakthrough in the women’s 10m platform and Huang Qiang taking an impressive fourth in his first attempt in the men’s 3m springboard in Montreal.

Pandelela, who was crowned the National Sportswoman of the Year last month, may still be hampered by sore shoulders but she managed to dish out her best performance to clinch her first individual gold medal in the World Grand Prix circuit.


Pandelela was trailing closely behind Australia’s Melissa Wu after the first three dives but she grabbed a comfortable lead with an impressive 86.40 in her next attempt.

Melissa, the Beijing Olympic synchro platform silver medallist who finished second to Pandelela in the individual at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games, found herself with a 17-point deficit against her Malaysian rival after only managing 64.35.

Pandelela’s final attempt was clean and earned her 84.80 to seal victory with a total of 379.70 points, her highest score to date for the individual platform.

Melissa eventually settled for bronze despite coming back with 83.20 for a total of 360.25.

Roseline Filion of Canada did well in her last two dives to overtake the Australian for the silver medal with a total of 363.85.

Huang Qiang and Bryan Nickson Lomas had earlier bagged gold in only their second competition together for the men’s 3m springboard synchro on Saturday.

The second gold from Pandelela was a pleasant surprise although she was expected to challenge for honours in the absence of China’s elite divers.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said it was another big boost for Pandelela’s hopes of being a strong contender at the London Olympics.

Pandelela was placed fifth at last year’s World Championships in Shanghai and was runner-up in the Diving World Series recently.

“Her difficulties are on par with the best divers. It’s just that she needs to get more consistent. It’s a good warm-up for her in Canada but the competition will definitely get more intense,” said Edwin.

Naturalised Malaysian Huang Qiang garnered a six-dive total of 482.60 points to secure fourth spot in the men’s 3m springboard.

It was a creditable display from the 30-year-old former China diver considering it was his first time diving the individual springboard after almost 10 years.

Huang Qiang made the top six final after finishing third in his semi-final group (424.85) while another Malaysian Yeoh Ken Nee fell by the wayside.

Ethan Warren of Australia took the gold (511.75) ahead of Canada’s former world champion Alexandre Despatie (497.20) and Javier Illana of Spain (482.60).

The Malaysian divers will head straight to Fort Lauderdale for the US Open taking place this weekend.