KUALA LUMPUR: The exclusion of two national diving darlings, Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, could put Malaysia in a dicey situation to conquer women’s events in the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, this May.
National assistant coach Datuk Leong Mun Yee admitted that she was a little worried about the performance of the young divers in both events – women’s 3 metre (m) springboard and women’s 10m platform – at the biennial multi-sports games.
“We should be worried about the emergence of Indonesian divers in the women’s 3m springboard because they did really well in the last SEA Games.
“As for the women’s 10m platform, both divers who will be making their debut in the SEA Games, are still new in the event,” she told Bernama when contacted today.
On the prospects of the men’s squad, the ex-national diver believed that her charges should not have any problems to show their prowess and dominate the pool at the Aquatic Centre, Morodok, Phnom Penh.
Last January, Mun Yee announced that the elite divers have been left out of the 2023 SEA Games so as to give exposure to the young divers at the international level.
At the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, last May, the national diving camp which also featured Pandelela and Nur Dhabitah made a clean sweep by taking home all eight gold medals at stake.
Meanwhile, the former Olympian said all national divers will compete in the 58th Malaysia Invitational Age Group (MIAG) Diving Championships 2023, slated to be held at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil, here, from April 1 to 3.
She said MIAG will be part of their final preparation before they take on the national challenge in the SEA Games.
“All of them will represent the national team together with the senior squad in the upcoming MIAG. They will compete with the state teams and also divers from Singapore,” she said.
The 2023 SEA Games will kick off from May 5 to 17 while the diving event will take place from May 8 until 11. – BERNAMA
