Yee-hah! Veteran dives in
Leong takes Wendy’s place in World Series
PETALING JAYA: Trust veteran diver Leong Mun Yee to come to the rescue.
The 32-year-old has stepped in as a replacement for Wendy Ng Yan Yee for the Diving World Series starting with the first leg in Beijing, China, from March 9-11.
With Mun Yee in, Malaysia will have four women divers in the fray for the prestigious four-leg series this year.
The others are Cheong Jun Hoong, Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Pandelela Rinong.
Mun Yee replaces Wendy, who is under provisional suspension for a doping offence committed during the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last August.
Wendy tested positive for sibutramine, a substance normal- ly found in slimming products, and has since returned her two SEA Games gold medals won in the 3m springboard individual and synchro event with Dhabitah.
Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Mae Chen said Wendy would also miss the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
“FINA (governing body for aquatics) have yet to decide how long Wendy will be suspended, so we are unable to bring her back to the national team,” said Mae.
“FINA have accepted our request to replace Wendy with Mun Yee so that we’ll still have four representatives at the Diving World Series.
Only the top eight finishers from the Rio Olympics for the respective events will get to take part in the series, which will also
be held in Fuji, Japan (March 15-17), Montreal, Canada (April 27-29) and Kazan, Russia ( May 4-6).
Mun Yee will partner Dhabitah in the women’s 3m springboard synchro while reigning world champion Jun Hoong and Pandelela will compete in the women’s 10m platform individual.
Jun Hoong and Pandelela will also bid to repeat their Olympic silver medal performance in the women’s 10m platform synchro.
The divers have been training in Guangzhou, China, for the last two weeks.
Malaysia bagged a total of two silvers and one bronze in the four-leg series last year.