PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s unbroken medal run at the Diving World Series came to an end with Pandelela Rinong taking fourth place in the women’s individual 10m platform in Windsor, Canada.
The defending Commonwealth Games champion earned 57.60 for her third dive and that proved to be her undoing as she slipped to fifth.
Pandelela eventually ended the five-dive competition with 340 points with Canadian Roseline Filion delighting her home crowd, taking the bronze with 365.90 points.
China earned a one-two finish with Huang Xiaohui emerging tops in her maiden appearance in the series with a spectacular 440.75 points ahead of Liu Huixia, who chalked 395.40 points.
Pandelela and partner Leong Mun Yee also ended fourth in the women’s 10m platform synchro on Friday.
Despite this result, Pandelela consolidated her second position in the overall rankings after competing in five legs so far.
There is the final round in Monterrey, Mexico, this weekend and Pandelela currently has 68 points behind Huixia, who leads with 82 points.
Filion is third on 50 points, ahead of fellow Canadian Meaghan Benfeito, who is on 42 points.
The Malaysian diving team have delivered at least one medal at each of the four previous outings and the latest performances showed that much work needs to be done to emerge as strong contenders at the upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.
Pandelela claimed the silver in the opener in Dubai and also in Beijing and followed up with a bronze in London.
The London Olympic bronze medallist was fifth in Moscow last month.
Amateur Swimming Union Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said Pandalela may have failed to mount the podium but she is still rated a gold prospect at the Commonwealth Games.
”The World Series is different and provides a good platform for the divers to handle the demands of back-to-back competitions in different parts of the world.
”The divers who qualify are now tackling fatigue and the same goes for our divers.
”Pandelela has as fair a chance as any of the other divers and I believe she does not want to give up her Commonwealth Games title so easily,” he said.
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