Diving legacy lives on as Arif follows dad Rossharisham into national team

PETALING JAYA: Nearly two decades after perfecting his pikes and somersaults at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, former national diver Rossharisham Roslan will soon watch his son, Arif Aisy Rossharisham, take the plunge on the very same springboard.

The 15-year-old is following in his father’s footsteps and will join the national training set-up in Bukit Jalil in mid-June.

Arif heads into the programme with strong credentials after completing a double gold sweep for Selangor in the boys’ 14-15 category at the National Age-Group Diving Championships in Kuching, which concluded yesterday.

Like father, like son: Arif wants to emulate Rossharisham.

He captured the 3m springboard title with 402.30 points, finishing ahead of NSC’s Lin Yee Han (374.55) and Sabah’s Onell Lee (373.95).

He also won the 1m springboard with a total of 347.05 points ahead of teammate Mohd Aeriel Riezqi (345.65) and Onell (337.50).

The hosts emerged as overall champions with 18-17-7 followed by Selangor (5-3-3) and NSC (4-3-3).

Arif had already caught the eyes of many after he clinched both the springboard individual events in the boys’ 14-15 category at the South-East Asia (SEA) Championship in Singapore last year.

Rossharisham was happy to see his son making his mark in the sport where he once fought to bring glory for Malaysia.

“Diving has been a passion of mine as I started training when I was still at a young age.

“I’m happy that my son is sharing the same interest as me and is good on the springboard as well.

“He has been invited to join the national team and I think it’s the right time after the national age-group meet.

“I trained him from very young and now is the time to develop his skills further,” said Rossharisham, who partnered Yeoh Ken Nee to clinch a first-ever silver in the men’s 3m springboard synchro event at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

Arif, with his father’s support, is giving up the chance to compete in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Selangor later this year to compete in the World Junior Championships in Croatia.

Sukma is from Aug 15-24 while the world junior meet will be held from Aug 22-28.