So close yet so far

Pandelela-Amsyar beaten to bronze by the skin of their teeth

PETALING JAYA: Pandelela Rinong- Ahmad Amsyar Azman came so close to pulling off a historic start for Malaysia in the FINA Diving World Cup in Wuhan, China.

Pandelela- Amsyar had been going strong from the start and were placed third going into the sixth and final dive of the team event yesterday.

The scratch Malaysian pairing earned 66.30 for their final dive but they were beaten by a whisker to the bronze medal by Krysta PalmerDavid Dinsmore of the United States.

The Americans earned 88.20 for their final dive to finish with 374.65 points while Pandelela- Amsyar came in a close fourth with 373.60 points.

It was a cruel ending for Pandelela-Amsyar but otherwise a superb effort considering that it was the first time they had competed in the team event.

The newly-introduced team event sees each diver taking turns to dive from the 3m springboard and 10m platform.

China claimed the gold with Qiu Bo-Chen Yiwen finishing with 406.20 points.

Oleg Kolodiy-Sofia Lyskub of Ukraine took silver with 388.90 points.

Veteran diver Leong Mun Yee combined with youngster Hanis Nazirul Jayasurya to finish seventh in the mixed 10m platform synchro final earlier.

The senior- junior pairing finished with 273.90 points at the end of the fifth and final dive.

China’s Si Yajie-Liang Junjie took the first gold on offer in the meet after amassing 353.31 points.

Ca eli McKay-Vincent Riendeau took silver with 301.20 points ahead of Russians Valeria BelovaSergey Nazin (299.88).

Pandelela will return to the pool for the women’s 10m platform individual preliminary round today while Chew YiweiOoi Tze Liang will also try to qualify for the men’s 3m springboard synchro final.