Diving Team Have A Good Shot At Breaking Through In The London Games

NO Malaysian has made it past the preliminary rounds of the individual competition when it comes to diving at the Olympics but that should change in London when the action begins from July 28.

For the first time, the diving team have a real good shot at breaking through and it is no longer just about returning with their heads held high.

Diving represents Malaysia’s biggest team to the London Games with eight contenders and coach Yang Zhuliang is adamant that his charges, who have been training in Guangzhou for nearly two months, can create history.

The diving squad won 10 out of 12 quota spots for Malaysia from the World Cup in London, including three in the synchro disciplines for the first time.

And Pandelela Rinong (pic), who is set to become the first national woman flag-bearer at the opening ceremony on July 27, feels their chances are just as good as the rest when it comes to the synchro.



The 19-year-old diver will be competing in the women’s 10m platform, 10m platform synchro with Leong Mun Yee and 3m springboard synchro with Cheong Jun Hoong. Pandelela will also contest the individual platform in which she is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion.

She also took bronze in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and will go all out for a medal in the event.

Pandelela said her first Olympic experience in Beijing was not memorable.

“I didn’t do that well in Beijing but I’m confident it will be different this time,” she said.

“If I have no big injuries, there’s a chance to fight for medals in all the events that I’m in.

“The coach (Zhuliang) says we need to have more confidence in ourselves and I think we will be in a better position compared to Beijing.

“Bryan was also there and didn’t fare that well either. We have to wait another four years if we disappoint again so I don’t intend to squander my chances.

“We have a good shot in the synchro as there are just eight pairs in the field unlike the individual events where a country can place two divers,” said Pandelela, the National Sportswoman of the Year for 2011.

Pandelela has been going great guns this year despite having to contend with niggling back muscle pain. She finished runners-up in the prestigious four-leg Diving World Series and won the gold in the 10m platform individual at the Canadian Open.

Pandelela and Mun Yee were bronze medallists at the World Championships in Germany in 2009.

Besides Pandelela, naturalised Malaysian Huang Qiang and Bryan Nickson Lomas have the potential to make headlines in London.

Former China champion Huang got it right in his first competition with Bryan by delivering a bronze in the men’s 3m springboard synchro at the World Cup. “Previously, we couldn’t even qualify for the finals but this time we have a good chance to fight for a medal in the men’s 3m synchro and women’s 10m platform.

“Huang-Bryan and Pandelela-Mun Yee must raise their difficulties and work on getting it right for the Olympics. There’s a lot of hard work ahead if we want to get an Olympic medal. But it isn’t impossible,” said Zhuliang, who has been instrumental in the rise of Malaysia as a diving force second only to China.

Malaysia had the biggest representation of four divers in Sydney in 2000, which was also the first time the country competed in Olympic diving, and have never missed out since then.