‘Diving queen’ deserves to be rewarded for her feat – Bidayuh leaders

KUCHING: National diving queen Pandelela Rinong deserves to be rewarded for bringing honour to Malaysia and Sarawak through her sport, said a group of Bidayuh political and community leaders.

Citing the gold medal recently won by her at the 2021 FINA Diving World Cup in Japan, they said rewarding her for achieving such a remarkable feat would be an extra motivation for her and also inspire the younger generation to achieve similar feats internationally.

They also pointed out that Pandelela, a Bidayuh from Bau, had sacrificed a lot in order to be at the top level, and therefore, should be accorded with rewards and incentives.

“She went through a lot of pain and sacrificed a lot of time training so that she can be where she is today – an Olympic medallist and recently winning the country’s first-ever gold medal at a FINA Diving World Cup event.

“She is not like the professional athletes in other sports who can earn from sponsorships and endorsements. Therefore, she should be ge ing rewards and incentives to recognise her achievements and also as her motivation,” they said in a statement yesterday.

On May 5, 28-year-old Pandelela secured Malaysia’s first-ever FINA Diving World Cup gold medal in the women’s 10m platform, defeating Japan’s Matsuri Arai and Caeli McKay of Canada, who placed second and third respectively.

Up next for Pandelela and her national team-mates would be the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for July 23 to Aug 8.