Divers hit rock bottom
Jellson Jabillin and Hanis Nazirul Jaya Surya failed to ensure Malaysia has a representative in the men’s 10m platform individual at the Tokyo Olympics after losing in the preliminary round at the World Cup.
PETALING JAYA: The diving team plunged to a new low after Jellson Jabillin and Hanis Nazirul Jaya Surya failed to ensure Malaysia has a representative in the men’s 10m platform individual at the Tokyo Olympics.
This will be the first time diving will have no representation in men’s platform.
Jellson, who competed at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, saw his hopes take a dive after faring poorly in his first-two attempts in the preliminary round at the Diving World Cup in Tokyo yesterday.
The 20-year-old Sarawakian slipped to 38th after four dives. He recovered with a 67.20 to move to 32nd but another average dive of 55.50 in his sixth and final attempt saw him in 34th spot with 336.90 points out of 46 divers.
The fine tradition of having a representative in the men’s high board thus came to a halt.
The first time we had a representative in the Games was when Yeoh Ken Nee and Azheem Bahari competed in Sydney 2000. Then it was Bryan Nickson Lomas’ turn to keep the flame burning in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
In Rio 2016, Ooi Tze Liang took part in the 10m platform. However, Tze Liang is focusing on the 3m springboard this time.
The campaign is thus over for Jellson and Hanis, who finished seventh in the 10m platform synchro on Saturday.
Wendy Ng Yan Yee reached the women’s 3m springboard individual final yesterday after finishing eighth in the semis with 288.30 points while Nur Dhabitah Sabri missed the top 12 cut when she came in 14th with 277.25 points.
Wendy and Dhabitah finished 13th (279.50) and 14th (275.10) respectively in the preliminaries with the top 18 through to the semis.
Former world champion Cheong Jun Hoong will take to the pool today to make a final bid to qualify for the Olympics in the women’s 10m platform individual.
Pandelela Rinong will also be competing and it remains to be seen if she can repeat her bronze-winning feat in Wuhan three years ago.