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China stint for national divers approved


Yang Zhuliang (right) pictured here with Pandelela Rinong at the 2012 London Olympics. The Chinese coach will take 15 divers with him on a training stint in Guanzhou.
Yang Zhuliang (right) pictured here with Pandelela Rinong at the 2012 London Olympics. The Chinese coach will take 15 divers with him on a training stint in Guanzhou.

KUALA LUMPUR: It is relief for diving head coach Yang Zhuliang as his request for a lengthy training stint in China has been approved and the visas sorted out.

The National Sports Council (NSC) have given the nod for Zhuliang to take 15 divers for a five-week long training stint in Guangzhou.

Commonwealth Games springboard champion Ooi Tze Liang, Ahmad Amsyar, Chew Yiwei and back-up squad member Ahmad Syafiq are the male divers picked for the stint. The female divers selected are new recruit 14-year-old Megan Teoh, Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Leong Mun Yee, Jasmnine Lai, Traisy Vivien Tukiet, Kam Ling Kar, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Adeline Chin and Loh Zhiayi.

ā€œI am happy the visas have been sorted out. I was worried some of the applications would be rejected.
ā€œThe NSC are arranging for the flight tickets and we are expected to be in Guangzhou either this Saturday or Sunday.

ā€œThe divers will spend the Chinese New Year over there.

ā€œTwelve of the divers will return home after the stint while Wendy, Mun Yee and Pandelela will remain there until the middle of March. They will then travel straight to Beijing for the first leg of the Diving World Series,ā€ said Zhuliang, adding that the China stint was necessary to prepare the divers for the assignments this year.

ā€œThe facilities in China are better compared to ours at Bukit Jalil. The training centre in Guangdong has adjustable platform heights and hi-tech video facilities to analyse the dives. We are planning to raise the divers’ level of difficulties so we need all these facilities in place.

ā€œThe important thing is there will be no disruption to their daily routine and the divers just need to concentrate on their training,ā€ said Zhuliang

Besides the Diving World Series and World Grand Prix Circuit, the divers’ other main assignments this season are the Singapore SEA Games in June and the World Championships in Kazan, Russia, in July. The world meet is a qualifying event for the 2016 Rio Olympics.



by Lim Teik Huat The Star

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