Wendy-Dhabitah provide golden splash on final day

KUALA LUMPUR: Wendy Ng Yan Yee and Nur Dhabitah Sabri provided Malaysia a golden finish on the final day of the Malaysian Diving Grand Prix at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.

Combining for only the third time this year, Wendy and Dhabitah emerged triumphant in the women’s 3m springboard synchro event after chalking up 274.41 points.

Compatriots Jasmine Lai Pui Yee-Kam Ling Kar were second on 267.51 while Americans Deidre Freeman-Maren Taylor of the United States piled up 259.80 points for third spot. The Americans, however, took the silver due to the “one country, one podium” ruling applied in the championships.

No bronze was awarded as only three pairs took part. China did not enter their divers in the event.

“I think we are improving as a pair. It’s only our third outing, so it’s quite remarkable,” said Wendy, who also won the same event with Cheong Jun Hoong in Singapore last week.

Dhabitah believes she can establish a strong combination with Wendy if given the chance to compete in more championships.

“We combined for the first time at the Diving World Cup in Shanghai in July, and we managed to enter the final. We finished seventh out of 17 pairs,” said Dhabitah.

“Wendy and I are about the same in terms of height and weight, so we have a slight edge in synchronisation,” added Dhabitah.

In the women’s 10m platform synchro event, Pandelela Rinong-Jun Hoong failed to make it a double joy for Malaysia. They narrowly lost the gold to China’s Si Yajie-Ji Siyu.

The Malaysians were in pole position with one more round to go. But they botched the final dive and ended up with 327.84 points to settle for the silver. Siyu-Yajie stamped their mark with a 332.70 total.

Loh Zhiayi-Dhabitah finished third with 293.67 points, but the “one country, one podium” ruling meant the bronze was awarded to fourth-placed Katrina Young-Cheyenne Cousiheau of the United States (240.84).

Ooi Tze Liang gave Malaysia one more bronze after amassing 448.60 points to finish third behind China’s Huo Liang (532.30) and American Tobey Stanley (456.25) in the men’s 10m platform individual event.

Malaysia ended their campaign with a gold, four silvers and three bronzes to finish second overall. China, as expected, topped the medal tally with a 7-2-1 haul. A total of 10 countries competed in the championships.