Jun Hoong bags gold at World Aquatics Championships

PETALING JAYA: National diver Cheong Jun Hoong (pic) claimed a truly stunning win in the women's 10m platform individual final at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Jun Hoong became the nation's first ever diving world champion after chalking 397.50 points to come out tops in a starry final field of 12 participants on Wednesday evening.

Jun Hoong, a surprise entry for the individual platform, was ranked fourth after the first two dives but moved to the top spot and never looked back after that.

It was an unexpected comeback for Jun Hoong considering she was the seventh ranked diver in the final based on the results from the semi-finals stage. 

Victory was certainly sweet for the 28-year-old from Perak, who had partnered Pandelela Rinong to take bronze in the women's 10m platform synchro on Sunday.

Not only did she win Malaysia's first-ever diving gold medal at the world championships but Jun Hoong beat two top Chinese divers — Si Yajie and Ren Qian.

Si Yajie, the world champion in 2013 and the Rio Olympics silver medallist, settled for silver with 396.00 points.

Ren Qian, the reigning Olympic champion, got the bronze with 391.95 points.

Defending champion Kim Kuk-hyang was sixth with 360.00 points.

Pandelela, who got bronze in the event at the previous edition in Kazan, Russia two years ago, managed ninth place (322.40).