KUALA LUMPUR: Ooi Tze Liang-Chew Yiwei continued the golden streak for Malaysia by splashing to gold in the 3m springboard synchro final at the Malaysia Diving Grand Prix at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
The Malaysians put up a gritty fight to wrest the lead from China’s Tai Xiaohu-Zhang Ciao with two dives to go and held on for victory last night.
Tze Liang-Yiwei earned 77.52 for their sixth and final dive to confirm the gold with a total of 410.61 points.
The Chinese pair only managed 61.56 for their final dive to settle for silver with 387.75 points.
French pair Alexis Jandard-Gwendal Bisch got the bronze with 374.78 points.
“We were concentrating on our own dives and we did not know what our rivals were doing, ” said Tze Liang.
“This victory is important for us as it gives us the confidence to get ready for the Olympic qualifying mission at the Diving World Cup in Tokyo next year.
“We hope to fight for a slot at the Olympics there. There is also the SEA Games in the Philippines next month where we will be looking to do well, ” said Tze Liang.
Youngsters Jellson Jabillin-Hanis Nazirul Jaya Surya underlined their potential as one of Asia’s best 10m platform divers with their silver medal splash. Jellson-Hanis picked up 385.10 points to finish ahead of Japan’s Reo Nishida-Shunta Kaneko in the 10m platform synchro final. The Japanese pair settled for bronze with 344.40 points.
China’s Duan Yu-Wang Zewei came out on top with 404.37 points for the gold.
It was the second podium finish for the Malaysian pair in two weeks.
Jellson-Hanis dived to gold in the Australia Diving Grand Prix in Gold Coast last week but that was achieved in the absence of the Chinese challenge.
“The Chinese divers are on top of their game and their youngsters can even beat the Olympic champions in their own national championships.
“This silver is as good as gold for us.
“We are still not as consistent as we want to but there are a lot of room for improvement.
“Our hope is to prepare for the Tokyo Diving World Cup as it will be the last Olympic qualifying event.
“We’re not sure if we can make it to the Olympics but we will just try as we have nothing to lose.
“We hope to continue improving as we also want to aim for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2022, ” said Sabah-born Jellson.
Tokyo Olympic-bound diver Wendy Ng Yan Yee claimed a bronze medal in the 3m springboard individual final.
KL-born Wendy chalked 306.55 points for her first medal since she made the Olympic cut by reaching the final at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July.
China claimed gold and silver through world champion Huang Xiaohui (339.40) and Youth Olympic champion Lin Shan (330.90).
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