ASUM Admit Divers Only In Race For The Lesser Medals

FOCUS ON DIVING

COMPETITION DATES: Nov 22-26
VENUE: Aoti Aquatics Centre
EVENTS
MEN: 1m springboard, 3m springboard, 10m platform, 3m springboard synchronised, 10m platform synchronised.
WOMEN: 1m springboard, 3m springboard, 10m platform, 3m springboard synchronised, 10m platform synchronised.
MEDALS AT STAKE: 10-10-10
TEAM MALAYSIA
MEN: Yeoh Ken Nee, Bryan Nickson Lomas, Ooi Tze Liang, Mohd Fakhrul.
WOMEN: Leong Mun Yee, Pandelela Rinong, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Traisy Vivien, Cheong Jun Hoong.
COACHES: Yang Zhuliang, Lan Wei, Huang Qiang.
TEAM MANAGER: Siow Kian Wah.
MEDAL TARGET: Better the achievement in Doha.
PREVIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS: Busan 2002: 0-0-3 (Bronze: Yeoh Ken Nee – men’s 3m springboard, Yeoh Ken Nee-Rossharisham Roslan – men’s 3m springboard synchronised, Leong Mun Yee-Farah Begum Abdullah – women’s 3m springboard synchronised).
DOHA 2006: 0-1-3 (Silver: Yeoh Ken Nee- Rossharisham Roslan – men’s 3m springboard synchronised; Bronze: Elizabeth Jimie – women’s 1m springboard, Leong Mun Yee – women’s 3m springboard, Leong Mun Yee-Elizabeth Jimie – women’s 3m springboard synchronised).

DIVING has been one of the major success stories from the Jaya ‘98 programme as the divers have evolved from just making up the numbers at the SEA Games level to become medallists at the World Championships and, just recently, the Commonwealth Games.

(The Jaya ‘98 programme was initiated to bring success in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.)

The Malaysian diving squad will now be heading to Guangzhou seeking to establish themselves as the second best nation behind China at the Asian Games level.

The national divers may not be facing the likes of Australia, Britain and Canada, as was the case in New Delhi, but it still won’t be a stroll in cool Guangzhou either because they will be up against not just China but also divers from Japan and South Korea.

Pandelela Rinong heads for the Asian Games fresh from her historic gold medal feat in New Delhi, where she put to shame Australian Olympic medallists Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak with a come-from-behind win in the 10m platform individual final.

The Sarawakian youngster also bagged a silver with Leong Mun Yee in the 10m platform synchronised event and stands a good chance of delivering a double in her Asiad debut.

Yeoh Ken Nee and Bryan Nickson will be hoping to do likewise in the men’s competition, where they will be contending in the springboard and platform disciplines respectively. Ken Nee will also be hoping to defend the silver he won with Rossharisham Roslan in the 3m springboard synchronised event in Doha four years ago. But this time he will be partnering Bryan.

In Doha, Malaysia also bagged three bronze medals from the girls’ competition and the current squad should be aiming for a clutch of silvers.

That will still be an achievement indeed if the divers can pull it off, taking into account the high level of opposition in Guangzhou.

Seven out of China’s 35 Olympic champions set to grace the Asian Games are in the diving squad, who bagged seven of the eight gold medals at stake at the Beijing Olympics two years ago.

Diving star Guo Jinjing is the only one missing from the squad, who also clinched seven gold medals at the World Championships in Rome last year.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong admitted that “Malaysia are in the race for the lesser medals when it comes to diving at the Asian Games in Guangzhou”.

“The fact that the Chinese divers are competing on homeground makes it even harder as no judge will dare to mark them down,” claimed Edwin.

“The only way for another diver to win is if the Chinese opponent makes a big mistake.

“The problem is they are very consistent and hardly make mistakes as it could be the end of their hopes of competing at the next Olympics.

“As for our top divers, like Pandelela, Mun Yee, Bryan and Ken Nee, the best we can hope for is for them to split the two Chinese divers in the individual to earn a silver.

“It will be a great achievement and it will give us plenty to look forward to at the next Olympics in London in two years’ time.

“We took home four medals in Doha and we are optimistic of improving on the haul.

“Our divers have come a long way. We could not even fight for a bronze at the SEA Games level when the National Sports Council (NSC) helped us set up the diving programme back in 1994. But we have since dominated the sport at the regional level and taken it higher.

“The improvement is there for everyone to see compared to when we won our first diving medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.”

The national divers returned to China after the Commonwealth Games campaign and will head straight to Guangzhou.

Pandelela On Cloud Nine After 10m Platform Gold

Malaysia's Pandelela Pamg competes in the women's 10m platform event during the Commonwealth Games at the Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Aquatics Center in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

NEW DELHI Oct 11 — Diver Pandelela Rinong clinched Malaysia”s seventh gold medal of the Commonwealth Games with a sizzling performance in the women”s 10m Platform diving at the Dr S.P. Mukherjee Aquatic Complex here today.

The 17-year-old Sarawakian who had won a silver medal in women”s 10m synchronized diving with Leong Mun Yee yesterday, amassed 371.05 points for the gold.

Her compatriot Traisy Vivien Tukiet, another Sarawakian lass who had won the SUKMA diving gold in Melaka from the 10m platform in June, however could only manage ninth spot with 310.55 points.

Despite the defeat, Traisy was still able to spot a smile when celebrating Pandelela”s victory with other diving officials.

Australian diver Melissa Wu collected the silver while another Aussie, Alexandra Croak took the bronze.

Meanwhile, in the men”s 3m Springboard, Yeoh Ken Nee , Bryan Nickson Lomas, and Muhammad Fakhrul Md Zain managed only a sixth, seventh and 10th place respectively from the 12 divers who competed.

Alexandre Despatie and Rueben Ross from Canada won gold and silver medal while Grant Nel of Australian won bronze.

Diving events continue tomorrow with the men”s 10m Synchro Platform, where Malaysia will be represented by Ooi Tze Liang and Abd Rashid Muhammad.

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Leong Mun Yee and Cheong Jun Hoong will compete in Women”s 1m Springboard while Bryan, Ken Nee, Muhammad Fakhrul and Ahmad Amsyar will take part in the men”s 3M Synchro Springboard. — Bernama

Commonwealth Games / Diving: Duo Shine With Silver

Pandelela Rinong (left) and Leong Mun Yee in action in the 10m synchro platform .yesterday.

LEONG Mun Yee ended a 12-year wait spanning four Commonwealth Games after she and partner Pandelela Rinong saved their best for last to clinch the 10m synchro platform silver at the Dr SPM Aquatic Complex yesterday.

It was Malaysia's first Commonwealth Games diving medal in the women's category and both divers were filled with joy, especially as they were lying fourth after three dives and in danger of being upstaged by younger teammates Cheong Jun Hoong and Traisy Vivien Tukiet, who were second.But the third dive, which Mun Yee said is their secret weapon, took them to second place behind Australia's Olympic silver medallists Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak while Jun Hoong-Traisy finished fifth.

"We were confident that we would be able to place ourselves in the medal places as we have been working on this dive in training," said Mun Yee.

The three and a half somersault pike was so well executed that the Malaysians scored 82.56, the only dive of the evening that breached the 80-point mark.The Malaysians scored a total 328.38 points for the silver to the Australians 335.76. Australia also took the bronze through Briony Cole and Anabelle Smith.

Pandelela said errors in the earlier dives probably cost them the gold."The scoring by the judges was also a little questionable as well as the Australians seemed to get some high marks despite not doing too well in the earlier dives," said Pandelela.Still, it has been a good year for Pandelela, who won two silver at the Youth Olympics in Singapore and has now added the Commonwealth medal.

She has the 10m platform today while Mun Yee will be competing in the 1m and 3m individual springboard events.Mun Yee, partnering youngster Ng Yan Yee, didn't fare well in the 3m synchronised springboard as they finished last in the six-pair event.Gold medallists in last year's Laos Sea Games, the Malaysians could only score 260.04 points.Yeoh Ken Nee also had to bow to the emergence of younger divers as he relinquished the men's 1m springboard silver he won in Melbourne four years ago. Ken Nee finished fourth with 400.10 points.Bryan Nickson Lomas was seventh, scoring 370.80 points while Muhammad Fakhrul Md Zain finished 11th with 260.04.

A Break For Bryan

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: Seasoned diver Ross­harisham Roslan is out of the Commonwealth and Asian Games later this year.

And Sarawakian Bryan Nickson Lomas is set to benefit from Ross­harisham’s absence as the replacement diver for his event.

Rossharisham partnered Ken Nee to deliver an Asiad silver medal in the men’s 3m springboard synchronised final in Doha four years ago and he also made the World Championships final in Rome last year.

However, Rossharisham was forced to skip the Laos SEA Games last December as he had to undergo surgery on his left knee.

Despite having returned to training recently, coach Yang Zhuliang is not convinced with his form and does not want to risk including him in the squad for the two Games.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in New Delhi in October and the Asiad in Guangzhou, China, in November.

This will be the second time that Rossharisham will be missing the Commonwealth Games.
He was in the squad as Ken Nee’s partner for the Melbourne Games in 2006 but had to watch from the stands after his team-mate came down with fever the day after bagging silver in the 1m springboard competition.

Ken Nee subsequently pulled out from the 3m springboard and synchronised competitions.
Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong confirmed yesterday that Rossharisham was not in the list of entries to be submitted to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) for both the Games.

“We paired Bryan with Ken Nee at the Asian championships in China just before the Laos SEA Games and they did well to win the silver medal. They went on to clinch the SEA Games gold medal and they have been doing well in training since,” said Edwin.

“Rossharisham is back now but he needs to recover most of his dives if he is to partner Ken Nee again. The coach feels that it will better for Ken Nee to stick with Bryan as there is not much time left.

“Bryan has also reached the same standards as Ken Nee in the springboard and we feel they have a good shot at grabbing a medal at both the Games.”

It will be taxing for Bryan and Ken Nee at both the Games as they will have to prepare for four separate events.

Bryan will have to concentrate on the 10m platform while Ken Nee is focusing on the 1m and 3m springboard individual.

The duo are currently undergoing training with other senior divers in China for the FINA World Cup to be held in Changzhou from June 2-6.

The other male divers in the squad for the biennial meet are Mohd Fakhrul and Ooi Tzer Liang while the women divers are Leong Mun Yee, Pandelela Rinong, Traisy Vivien and Wendy Ng Yan Yee.

Divers Fancied To Make Waves in World Championships

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Young diver Fakhrul eyeing the biggest break of his career

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13TH FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Date : 17 July - 2 August 2009
Venue : Foro Italico, Rome

Note: Click on Roma09 logo to go to the Games official website

Athletes In Preparation :
Divers : Pandelela Rinong ak Pamg, Traisy Vivien ak Tukiet & Fakhrul Izzat b. Md Zain (soon coming into Pre U)
Synchro Swimmers: Zyanne Lee Zhien Huey & Katrina Ann bt. Abdul Hadi
Swimmer : Leung Chii Lin (soon coming into Pre U)