Poor performances by Malaysians in Tokyo
Tokyo World Cup is fast becoming a nightmare for the Malaysian divers.
Jellson Jabillin and Hanis Nazirul Jaya Surya both recorded a new low for the country after they failed to earn Tokyo Olympic slots in the men’s 10m platform individual event.
It will be the first time in six editions of the Olympics that Malaysia would not have a representative in the men’s platform.
Since the appearances of Yeoh Ken Nee and Azreen Bahari at the 2000 Sydney Games, Malaysia always had at least one representative in the men’s platform.
Both Jellson and Hanis needed at least a top-20 finish in Tokyo yesterday to guarantee their Olympic spots.
But Jellson, who represented Malaysia at the 2018 Youth Olympics, saw his Olympic hopes vanished after two poor efforts in the preliminary round at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
The 20-year-old was 13th after the first two dives but chalked up 42.00 and 33.00 in his third and fourth attempts to finish with 336.90 points for 34th spot out of 46 divers.
Hanis fared even worse as he only tallied 283.80 points to be placed 43rd.
To rub further salt into the wounds, Singapore can also boast of sending a diver for the platform event at the Olympics, courtesy of Jonathan Chan, who earned his ticket by winning the 2019 Asian Cup.
The Singaporean proved that was no fluke as he finished 24th yesterday, with a much better score of 371.80 points.
It was a disappointing finish for Jellson and Hanis as they had numerous experiences on the international stage for the last four years.
Meanwhile, Wendy Ng made some amends for failing to qualify for the Olympics in the women’s 3m springboard synchro event by reaching the final of the 3m springboard individual.
The 27-year-old came 14th in the preliminary round to reach the top-18 semi-final, where she finished eighth with 288.30 points.
It was, however, yet another disappointment for Nur Dhabitah Sabri as she tallied 277.25 points to finish 14th in the semi-finals, thus missing out on the top-12 final.