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DIVING: Excellent dive

10M PLATFORM SYNCHRO: Pandelela-Mun Yee clinch bronze

PANDELELA Rinong-Leong Mun Yee clinched a historic second ever medal for Malaysia in the World Championships by claiming a bronze in the women's 10-metre platform synchro in Barcelona yesterday.

The pair, however, could have bettered their third-place achievement at the 2009 edition in Rome, Italy , if they had done better in their final dive.

Pandelela-Mun Yee, who finished seventh at last year's London Olympics, garnered 331.14 points finishing behind China's gold medallists Chen Ruolin-Liu Huixia, who amassed a near perfect 356.28 total and Canada's Meghan Benifeito-Roseline Filian (331.41).

The Malaysians led the opening two routine attempts with a 109.20 series ahead of other established divers. However, as expected, Ruolin-Huixia took over the lead while Pandelela-Mun Yee dropped to second from the third round onwards They were well positioned for a silver after four dives but dropped one rung after Meghan-Roseline executed a magnificent routine for the silver.

Nonetheless, Pandelela-Mun Yee's podium finish is an achievement as it was talented pool comprising former champions.

Coach Yang Zhuliang was delighted with the outcome while Pandelela-Mun Yee were close to tears after the official results were announced.

It is a huge confident booster for Pandelela, who had a difficult season after coming back from an ankle injury.

Critics felt Olympic bronze medallist Pandelela had lost her zest but she proved them wrong yesterday.

It was first feared the pair would not make an impact on the event following a less impressive performance in the preliminary round earlier. They posted a five-dive total of 310.98 for third position.

On Sunday, Cheong Jun Hoong reached the 1m springboard final by finishing fourth in the preliminary round for her first ever career final in the world meet.

Jun Hoong was determined to make an impression following a poor performance in the 3m springboard synchro on Saturday.

She and Pandelela missed out on the bronze medal after a disastrous final dive.
But the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist bounced back by posting 256.25 points over five attempts on Sunday.

China's He Zi (287.70), Italy's Tania Cagnotto (284.85) and Wang Han (284.00) were the top three finishers.

"I am happy but what counts is my performance in the final tomorrow (today). It will be an icing on the cake if I can finish on the podium," said Jun Hoong.

"I did some soul searching and also spoke to my coach Zhuliang after the synchro event.
"Zhuliang advised me to forget about the past and focus on learning from my mistakes. It worked well for me."

Realising her inability to handle pressure, Zhuliang said he will not push her today.
"I want her to dive without pressure, and hopefully she can finish in the top five," Zhuliang added.



Read more: DIVING: Excellent dive - Other - New Straits Times

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