Skip to main content

Pandelela sticks to basics ahead of world meet

<b>Aiming to do better:</b> Pandelela Rinong will compete in the 10m platform individual and synchro as well as the 3m springboard synchro at the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona. —EPA Aiming to do better: Pandelela Rinong will compete in the 10m platform individual and synchro as well as the 3m springboard synchro at the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona. —EPA 
 
PETALING JAYA: Diver Pandelela Rinong will not raise her degree of difficulty – and instead stick with the basics – as she prepares for the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona from July 19-Aug 4.

The Olympic bronze medallist will compete in three events – 10m platform individual and synchro as well as the 3m springboard synchro – in her third appearance at the world meet, which will see the world’s best converging for the first time since last year’s London Olympics.
The 20-year-old Pandelela claimed a bronze in the individual platform in London but has not been consistent since.

The Malaysian has only made the podium once in the six-leg Diving World Series season. Although she finished second overall in the series, it was because she competed in every leg.
Besides diving in the platform individual and synchro with Leong Mun Yee, Pandelela is likely to join forces with Cheong Jun Hoong in the 3m springboard synchro.

Amateur Swimming Union Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong said that Pandelela was using the current one-month training stint in Guangzhou to polish up on the basics.
“She has no time to train because of her obligation to compete in the Diving World Series. All the travelling and in-between recovery period already make it difficult for her to work on her basics,” he said.

“If a diver does not work on the basics, it’ll be hard to perform high quality dives. That’s why her results in the individual platform were not that impressive ... but we are optimistic she’ll do much better now that she is in China training with the team.
“She will use the same set of dives she did at the world series. It’s also not easy on her as she has to take care of her physical condition.

“Pandelela has had recurrent injuries on her back and elbow ... we need to be careful not to aggravate her condition.”
Pandelela made the individual final and finished fifth twice in 2009 (Rome) and 2011 (Shanghai).
It was in Rome that she partnered Mun Yee to make aquatic history with the bronze in the 10m platform synchro.

Sixteen divers from the elite and back-up squads are in Guangzhou getting ready for the World University Games in Kazan next month as well as for the world meet.

Jun Hoong should be the other local diver competing in three events in Barcelona. The SEA Games champion is down for the 3m springboard individual and synchro as well as the 1m springboard. Traisy Vivien Tukiet and Wendy Ng are down for the 10m platform and 3m platform respectively.
Ooi Tze Liang has been registered for the 10m platform and 3m springboard synchro (with Ahmad Amsyar). Ahmad and Chew Yiwei will compete in the 1m and 3m springboard individual respectively



- The Star

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...
11 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more