Baby Steps For Diver Dhabitah At SEA Games

SEA Games debutant Dhabitah Nur Sabri aims to do well in Myanmar before graduating to bigger things when the diving event begins on Wednesday. - Filepic

NAYPYITAW: Her room-mate is an Olympic medallist while her diving partner is the only athlete in the Malaysian contingent making a ninth consecutive appearance at the SEA Games.

Dhabitah Nur Sabri’s maiden outing at the SEA Games is already memorable enough but the youngest member of the diving squad is hoping to cap it further with a gold medal around her neck.

Diving gets under way at the Wunna Theikdi Aquatic Centre on Wednesday with Malaysia, despite fielding several newcomers, still looking good to sweep all eight gold medals at stake.

The 14-year-old Dhabitah, fondly known as Bitah, has been sharing the same room with London Olympic bronze medallist Pandelela Rinong since she arrived with the team in Naypyitaw three days ago.

Dhabitah will be partnering Leong Mun Yee to defend the women’s 10m platform synchro event and is relishing her SEA Games debut.

Pandelela is Mun Yee’s regular partner for the platform synchro but she is only focusing on the individual event this time to expose the youngsters to competition at the SEA Games level.

“I am so excited as it’s my first major multi-Games,” said Dhabitah, who became the youngest Malaysian diver to win at the senior level with her two individual titles in the 1m and 3m springboard at the South-East Asian (SEA) Swimming Championships in Singapore last year when she had yet to turn 13.

“I may have competed in SEA swimming championships before last year but this is a much bigger occasion.

“Coach (Yang Zhuliang) wants us to do well, that is why he pushed us hard during the one-month preparation in China.

“He is a perfectionist and he even pushed us during training here. We had to go to the gym early in the day after we arrived late here.

“But I know he only has good intentions.”

It will be the first time Dhabitah is partnering Mun Yee and she is looking forward to it. But she’s feeling jittery at the same time.

“I am really nervous because I’m afraid of letting her down,” said Dhabitah.

“She is so experienced and I have learned a lot from her when we were training in China, so hopefully we’ll do well in our first outing together.

“We spent the three weeks in China working on our combination and I hope I don’t disappoint her.”

The SEA Games competition will also be the moment of reckoning for other juniors like Asian Youth Games silver medallist Loh Zhiayi, Chew Yi Wei and Muhd Nazreen Abdullah, who will all be making their debut.

Zhuliang has always emphasised the importance of the biennial meet to serve as a perfect launching pad for a diver.

“You will have to win first at the SEA Games, then only can you move on to the Asian and Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympics,” he said.

“If you can’t even conquer the region, then you are going nowhere.”

The now-retired divers like Yeoh Ken Nee and Bryan Nickson Lomas, as well as Mun Yee, Pandelela, Cheong Jun Hoong, Ooi Tze Liang and Wendy Ng all went through the process before they started challenging for honours at the highest level.