PETALING JAYA: Wendy Ng Yan Yee is hoping that the national diving squad can return to China to train as it will help her in her quest to become the third diver to make it to the Road to Gold (RTG) high performance training programme.
The experienced springboard diver is not involved in the upcoming Cambodia SEA Games as Malaysia will only be represented by the back-up divers but she has to prepare for bigger assignments - the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in July and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
The world meet this year is the first Olympic qualifying meet for diving with the top 12 in the individual and top three in the synchro making the cut for Paris next year.
There is another phase of Olympic qualification from the 2024 world championships in Qatar with 18 slots for the individual and another four slots for synchro at stake.
“Of course, as an experienced diver, I hope to make the cut to RTG. Every athlete should aim for more personal achievements,” said Wendy, who has competed in three previous Olympics.
“It is better to qualify early than late as it gives me more time to prepare for the Olympics but it’s going to be tough in Fukuoka.
“Only the top 12 will make the cut and that means I have to make the final for the individual.
“That is why we have spent a lot of time and effort on preparing for the world championships.
“It will be very good for us to have a training camp in China before we go to the world championships. It’s in the planning but it’s not confirmed yet.
“The last time we trained there was before the Covid-19 pandemic and we usually go for about one month.
“It helps to improve our consistency as there is no distraction and we can talk to the Chinese divers on how they feel after doing each dive,” she said.
The RTG is intended to provide cream-of-the-crop athletes the support they need to challenge for gold at the Olympic level.
Among the divers, only Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri have been included in RTG.
The national divers who are not going for the SEA Games will head to Montreal, Canada, for the second leg of the Diving World Cup on May 5-7.
