Good old days: File photo of Malaysia's Yeoh Ken Nee and Bryan Nickson Lomas when they won the men's 3m springboard syncro at the Palembang SEA Games in 2011. GLENN GUAN/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Former Olympic springboard finalist Yeoh Ken Nee looks set to embrace a new challenge after the Chinese New Year celebration is over.
It is learnt Ken Nee will be announced as the new technical director for Malaysian diving team soon.
His former springboard synchro partner Bryan Nickson Lomas resigned from the post last week and it is learnt that the National Sports Council have already finalised their candidate to take over the hot seat.
The 41-year-old Ken Nee, a father to two children, ticked all the boxes needed to head the national diving team having been involved in the sport for the most part of his life.
In fact, he was in the pioneer batch of divers recruited to start full time training for the first time under Jaya 98 programme back in 1995.
Ken Nee competed as a 15-year-old at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and was the first male diving gold medallist for Malaysia, sweeping the men’s 3m springboard and 10m platform individual titles at the 1999 Brunei SEA Games.
Ken Nee was also the first Malaysian to stand on the Commonwealth Games podium for diving 19 years ago - grabbing silver in the men’s 1m springboard individual in Melbourne (2006).
He made Olympic Games history for Malaysia as the first male diver to qualify for the final, finishing 10th in the men’s 3m springboard individual event in London in 2012.
He retired from competitive diving after the London Olympics and eventually went into coaching.
