A Very Patchy Start

Cheong Jun Hoong (right) and Pandelela Rinong compete in the women’s 3m synchro springboard preliminary diving event in the FINA World Championships at the Piscina Municipal de Montjuic in Barcelona on Saturday. — GLENN GUAN / The Star

MALAYSIAN divers kicked off their campaign with Pandelela Rinong-Cheong Jun Hoong easing through to the women’s 3m springboard synchro final in the World Championships at the Municipal Montjuic Pool yesterday.

It was a patchy performance from Pandelela-Jun Hoong, who were only competing together for the first time since the London Olympics last August, as they finished fifth with 283.50 points.

The Malaysian pair could have been in the top three but flopped their fourth attempt, earning only 50.40 points.

The duo dropped further to sixth with only one dive to go but they managed to move up to fifth, scoring 69.30 for the final attempt.

Twenty pairs took part in the preliminaries and only the top 12 go to the final.