PHNOM PENH, May 12 — Malaysia Swimming (MS) is not discounting the possibility of featuring elite divers in the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
MS secretary-general Mae Chen said this came after Thailand Swimming Association is ready to feature eight events for diving at the biennial Games.
“When I spoke to the Thailand Swimming Association, they told me that they are ready to have eight events (to be contested in the 2025 SEA Games).
“If we have eight events and if other juniors are not ready, then we might field senior divers, maybe Wendy Ng Yan Yee if she wants or Nur Dhabitah Sabri and so forth,” she said when met at Morodok Techo Aquatic Centre, earlier today.
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National diving athlete Wendy Ng Yan Yee with her gold medal, during the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 11, 2020. — Picture by BERNAMA[/caption]
In the ongoing 2023 SEA Games here, the elite divers have been left out to give exposure to young divers at the international level.
Although a majority of the divers in Phnom Penh are from the backup squad, they did exceptionally well in helping Malaysia to complete a clean sweep of all four golds at stake, here, thus, eclipsing the three gold targets.
What was more interesting is that two of the four gold medallists are first-timers in the Games — Lee Yiat Wing, who won the women’s platform, and men’s platform champion, Enrique Maccartney Harold.
The other gold medal contributors are Kimberly Bong in the women’s 3m springboard individual and Muhammad Syafiq Puteh in the men’s 3m springboard individual.
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National diver Lee Yiat Qing with her gold medal after winning the women's 10 metres platform, during the 32nd SEA Games at Morodok Techo Aquatics Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 10, 2023. — Picture by BERNAMA[/caption]
Commenting on the overall performance of national divers in Cambodia, Chen said they had no pressure to prove their prowess in the pool, especially for the women’s platform as the diving difficulty for both divers, Lee and Nur Eilisha Rania Muhammad Abrar Raj, were still quite low among all divers.
She also believes that 15-year-old Lee has a bright future in front of her following the wonderful outing in Phnom Penh.
“Well, what else can I say, I am very happy the juniors managed to step up to expectation.
“Our girls are actually one of the weakest in terms of diving difficulties but then Yiat Qing performed beyond expectation even though Nur Eilisha was the one with the higher level of diving difficulty, so, in the end, it was Yiat Qing who was very composed throughout the competition,” Chen said.
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(from left to right) National diving athletes Bertrand Rhodict Lises and Enrique Maccartney Harold with their silver and gold medals, after competing in the 10-metre plaftorm event, during the 32nd SEA Games, at the Morodok Techo Aquatic Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 11, 2023. — Picture by BERNAMA[/caption]
While other countries are slowly improving their dives, she hopes to see the national coaches refine their training methods, including increasing diving difficulty so as to ensure Malaysia keeps its status quo as the diving powerhouse in Southeast Asia.
Meantime, Chen said the floodgates are now open for all young divers to vie for a place along with elite divers such as diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah for the 2024 Olympic Games, following their successful outing in Cambodia.
She believed this was due to the fact MS plans to field more up-and-coming divers in international competitions, like the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July, or even the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8.
“Like Enrique and Bertrand, they will be going to the World Aquatic Championships as we want to give them more exposure (international stage). They may not be able to achieve anything, but they at least might stand a chance to earn a very respectable score,” Chen said.
— Bernama
