HER place in history is assured but diver Pandelela Rinong is hoping to achieve more than that after reaching the women’s individual 10m platform final in the World Championships at the Montjuic Municipal Pool.
Yesterday, Pandelela became the first-ever Malaysian diver to qualify for three consecutive individual finals at a world meet.
Pandelela, who was fifth twice in Rome (2009) and Shanghai (2011), amassed 314.15 points in the semi-finals.
Reigning Olympic and defending world champion Che Ruolin of China got her act together to lead the top 12 qualifiers with 373.65 points. Britain’s Tonia Couch (368.15) was second.
Ruolin’s team-mate Si Yajie came in third with 341.85 points while London Olympics silver medallist Brittany Broben was shockingly eliminated after placing 16th (287.30).
However, Pandelela will be wary of how quickly her fortunes can change on the high board, after experiencing it twice in the semi-finals yesterday.
She started well by earning the highest score of 76.50 to tie with Chinese rookie Yajie at the top but plumetted to ninth after earning 53.65 in her next dive. But Pandelela redeemed herself with a superb armstand routine, earning 81.60 to jump back to fourth in the field of 18 semi-finalists.
She was then left in sheer frustration after another bad entry earned her only 43.20.
Luckily for her, the others also messed up their dives at one point or another and Pandelela eventually ended up eighth after the fifth and final dive.
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