Lim, Teik Huat

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

6 we are proud of youTHE STAR, WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST 2016Dynamic duo: Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong (left) and CheongJunHoong in action during the women's synchronised 10m-platform final at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre. Top right: Debutarit Nur Dhabitah Sabri finished ninth among 12 divers in the10m individual platform.Reaching"for'ahigher platformDivers have comeof agesince their humble beginningsBy LIM TEIK HUATOURdivers have again showed they can bedepended on to-deliver at the world stage.From a bronze through PandelelaRinong. in the 2012 Olympics in London, divingstepped up to provide a silver in Rio.through the women's 10m platform syn-chro duo, this time through Pandelela andher partner Cheong [un Hoong. ., Itwas a masterstroke of diving coachYang Zhuliang who opted to leave out themost experienced member, Leong MunYee, after jun Hoong-Pandelela dived con-sistently to claim silver at the same outdoorvenue during the DivingWorld Cup in Rioin February. .Zhuliang was convinced that JUn Hoong-Pandelela would repeat the podium splashagain in Rio. Juri Hoong-Pandelela did notdisappoint as they grabbed the first eversynchro Olympic medal- and also the firstfor the Malaysian contingent in Rio on Aug9. _The signs were already there for divingto deliver. Malaysia has bagged medals at,the World Championships stage before this .:Pandelela then partnered Mun Yee to ahistoric first - a bronze in the 10m platform .synchro at the 2009 world meet in Rome.The duo repeated the feat in Barcelonain 2013 and it was Pandelela who steppedonto the podium for her first individualmedal- bronze in the 10m platform in 'Kazan, Russia last year,Amazingly, the rapid progress divingmade as a medal contributor on the higheststage comes after just four Olympic cycles.Before 1994, Malaysia had no facilities,no athletes and no' history in in the sportexcept for a one-off participation at the ,1971 SEAGames in Kuala Lumpur.It is due to the [aya '98 programme (toprepare athletes for the 1998 KualaLumpur Cornmonwealth Games) which. started in 1994. .Former-National Sports Council (NSC)director general Datuk Wira Mazlan .Ahmad, who played a big part in theresur-gence 'of diving, recalled that the involve-ment started with Chinese coach LiJuirong,who was attached to the Kuala LumpurAmateur Swimming Association at thattime being recruited to train a group ofyoungsters from scratch. . ."Wesingled out diving for the [aya '98programme as the sport suited small-builtathletes. With a proper programme;we. believed we could win medals in the 1998Commonwealth Games."Diving started from scratch. We had to.buildfacilities, including dry gyms and alsointroduce programmes in Perak, Kuala .Lumpur, Sarawak, Sabah and Penang. Oneof the criteria in selecting divers was for.them to leap from a 10m platform withoutshowing .any fear. ,-"We are talking about seven, eight-yearolds being told to jump off aplatform.Many were afraid but the ones whoshowed no fear were shortlisted forthenext stage. ."We also realised divers spent more timedeveloping their acrobatic skills on dryland rather than in the pool."After the basic facilities were in place inCheras, more coaches from China werebrought in and Malaysia managed to send,divers ., for the first time in 24 years - tothe SEAGames in Chiangmai in 1995. 'Malaysia returned home empty-handedfrom Chiangmai but hopes were raisedwhen Farah Begum Abdullah won thecountry's first-ever medal- a silver - in the'Jakarta SEAGarnes two years later.The breakthrough came ID 1999 inBrunei when Yeoh Ken Nee and Farah .·claimed gold medals. Diving has not lookedback since then as a major contributor for.Malaysia in the SEAGames. . ..National divers made their Olympicdebut in 2000 with four qualifying for .Sydney. The divers followed up with threebronze at the Asian Games for the firsttime in Busan in 2002.Atthe Commonwealth Games, 3m, springboard specialist KenNee. and the10m platform synchro duoof BryanNickson Lomas-james sandayud claimedhistoric silver medals in Melbourne 2006for the first time.. . . .Pandelela capped a major achievement·when she won the country's first .Commonwealth Games gold medal in the10m platform in New Delhi in 2010..·Malaysia should thank Zhuliang for turningour divers into winners on the world stage.despite the limitations.''.Westill lack good facilities. This year wehad to spent long periods in China becauseour-usual venue in Bukit [alilwas closedfor renovation."We do not have many options with oursmall nurnberof divers and they have totrain for more than one event."In China, there are at least 10 world-class divers for each event. If the regularones do not meet expectations, they arereplaced immediately for the next major· competition. , '.. ''.With these restrictions, we haveachieved so much and we hope we can getbetter," added Zhuliang.

Reaching for a higher platform: divers have come of age since their humble beginnings

http://psasir.upm.edu.my/49538/1/Reaching%20for%20a%20higher%20platform.pdf

Reaching for a higher platform: divers have come of age since their humble beginnings

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