Pandalela, Mun Yee In World's Top Three

Pandalela Rinong at the London Olympics last year where she won the bronze in the 10m diving event. FINA has placed Pandalela and Leong Mun Yee third in the women’s 10m platform synchro discipline.

PETALING JAYA: Divers Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee, who claimed bronze for Malaysia at the World Championships in Barcelona recently, are now among the world’s top three combinations in the women’s 10m platform synchro discipline.


In the latest FINA diving rankings, updated after the world meet, they are placed third with average points of 37.67 – behind China (40.00) and Canada (38.00).

Since there are no more FINA-sanctioned international competitions after the world meet, the rankings will not change until next year – and Pandelela-Mun Yee will end the year as the world No. 3 pair.

Pandelela-Mun Yee earned 47 points from their bronze medal effort in Barcelona while their four silver medal finishes – three in the Diving World Series and one more in Grand Prix – earned them 33 points each.

The pair finished second in Edinburgh, Moscow and Guadalajara for the World Series and in United States GP in Fort Lauderdale. But only two of the four are taken into account.

The consistent performances show that Pandelela and Mun Yee are back at their best, having endured a tough season in 2012 where they found themselves in seventh spot.

Pandelela, meanwhile, remained as world No. 4 in her pet event – 10m platform individual – despite not having a good run this year.

The London Olympic bronze medallist has only one medal to show for thus far – a bronze in the World Series opening leg in Beijing. She also failed to impress in the world meet, where she settled for sixth spot.

But an average of 35.67 was enough for her to hang on to fourth spot behind China’s new prodigy Si Yajie (40.00), who took over top spot from compatriot Chen Ruolin (39.33). Yulia Propkopchuk (38.00) of Ukraine is third.

Wendy Ng Yan Yee, who went as far as the semi-finals in the women’s 3m springboard individual in Barcelona, has broken into top 20 for the first time in her career – sitting at 19th spot.

She accumulated an average of 28.67 to finish a rung higher than team-mate Cheong Jun Hoong (28.33).

The new positions are a major improvement for both Wendy and Jun Hoong, who were in 31st and 22nd positions respectively last year.

The duo have also combined well to ensure Malaysia climbed up to sixth spot in the synchro event, thanks to their strong showing in the World Series, where they bagged three bronze medals.

How our divers fared in the FINA rankings INDIVIDUAL 3M SPRINGBOARD MEN (out of 82 entries) Ooi Tze Liang – 28th Chew Yiwei – 66th WOMEN (out of 78 entries) Wendy Ng Yan Yee – 19th Cheong Jun Hoong – 20th 10M PLATFORM MEN (out of 68 entries) Ooi Tze Liang – 37th WOMEN (out of 72 entries) Pandelela Rinong – 4th Traisy Vivien Tukiet – 41st Nur Dhabitah Sabri – 68th SYNCHRO 3m SPRINGBOARD MEN (out of 27 nations) Ooi Tze Liang-Ahmad Amsyar Azman – 8th WOMEN (out of 26 nations) Cheong Jun Hoong-Wendy Ng Yan Yee (Sixth) 10m PLATFORM MEN No Malaysians involved WOMEN (out of 15 nations) Pandelela Rinong-Leong Mun Yee - 3rd