Off to a bright start
Yiwei-Amsyar bag a bronze in season-opener in Germany
PETALING JAYA: Chew YiweiAhmad Amsyar Azman bagged a bronze at the German Diving Grand Prix to begin Malaysia’s quest for another successful year in world diving.
The duo put up a creditable show to finish third in the men’s 3m springboard synchro final of the season-opening Diving Grand Prix circuit in Rostock on Saturday with a six-dive total of 376.14 points.
China’s Liu Chengming-Li Linwei settled for the silver with 382.44 points as Germany’s experienced pair Stephan Feck-Patrick Hausding claimed the gold for the hosts with a 419.91 total.
Yiwei- Amsyar’s achievement showed they are good to deliver the gold at the Aug 19-31 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. Yiwei partnered Ooi Tze Liang to emerge triumphant in the previous Games in Singapore two years ago.
“We were in fifth place after the first dive but picked up pace after that. It’s a great start to the year,” said Yiwei.
He added: “It’s not the first time we partnered each other. We combined for the Malaysian Diving Grand Prix in 2015 and won the event.”
In the men’s 3m springboard individual final, Tze Liang failed to reach the final after he could only finish fifth with 347.35 points in the first semi-final heat. Only the top three divers in each heat qualified for the final.
Earlier, Tze Liang was fourth in the preliminaries with 413.60 points while Muhd Syafiq Puteh managed 306.80 points to finish 17th.
Malaysian head coach Yang Zhuliang was pleased to start the season with a medal.
“Only four of our divers went to the German GP as the other seniors have to prepare for the Diving World Series first leg in Beijing this weekend.
“It’s a satisfactory start as this is the first international competition this year.
“I hope we can get a medal in every competition we compete in. Our major tests this year will be the World Championships in Budapest (Hungary from July 16-30) and the SEA Games,” said Zhuliang.