PETALING JAYA: There was joy for youngster Muhd Nazreen Abdullah on Malaysia Day as he claimed the men’s 10m platform individual gold on the final day of the Asian Diving Cup at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex in Singapore on Monday.
The 14-year-old, never an individual gold medallist at Sukma level, earned his breakthrough victory at senior international level by posting a six-dive total of 345.05 points. Jonathan Chan of Singapore took the silver after chalking up 320.65 points with Adityo Restu of Indonesia earning the bronze with a 229.50 total.
It was Nazreen’s second gold, having partnered Mohd Danial Sabri to the men’s 10m platform synchro title on Saturday.
Malaysia also picked up a silver through Adeline Chin in the women’s 3m springboard individual. She amassed 222.80 points to finish behind Singapore’s Fong Kay Yian (238.10).
Malaysia ended the three-day championships as overall champions. They bagged five out of the eight golds at stake.
Nur Dhabitah, Danial’s younger sister, also won two golds. She won the 10m platform individual and the 10m synchro platform with Trasie Vivien Tukiet.
Jasmine Lai-Kam Ling Kar contributed the other gold, emerging champions in the 3m springboard on Sunday.
Nazreen’s two-gold show offers a ray of hope for the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) following the retirements of Bryan Nickson Lomas, Yeoh Ken Nee and Huang Qiang.
“Nazreen and Danial still have a long way to go before they can reach the standards of Bryan and Ken Nee,” said Asum secretary Edwin Chong.
“They are in the 14-16 age bracket and may need two to three more years to be really ready for the major international meets.
“We brought them into the elite national squad at the start of the year as we need to groom them.
“We will be exposing this group to more big competitions from now on. For a start, they will be going for the Myanmar SEA Games in December,” he said.
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