Malaysian diving losing its footing in Southeast Asia
At the ongoing World Championships in Singapore, Malaysia learnt the bitter truth — they have been overtaken by Singapore and Thailand.
Yesterday, the national divers dished out another poor show as Nurqayyum Nazim Nazmi and veteran Syafiq Puteh failed to qualify for the men's 3m springboard semi-final.
Sea Games springboard champion Syafiq and Nurqayyum finished 53rd (310.55 points) and 54th (303.55 points) respectively out of 65 participants in the preliminary competition at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Worryingly, the Malaysians were upstaged by divers from Singapore and Thailand, yet another sign that our national team are no longer of quality.
Thai diver Chawanwat Juntaphadawon finished 29th at the world meet with 357.00 points, making him a strong contender for the SEA Games gold in Thailand in December.
Singaporean Avvir Tham came in a respectable 22nd with 363.90 points while compatriot, Max Lee, showed potential, placing 44th with 32625.
A day earlier, Malaysia's Sea Games champion Lee Yiat Qing failed to qualify for the women's 10m platform semi-finals, and was outshone by Singapore's Ainslee Kwang.
Malaysian diving technical director Yeoh Ken Nee admitted that he was shocked by the re sults.
"The boys did not perform well for this competition. The waiting time was also longer than usual for this competition (could have affected them).
"Nurqayyum (bronze medallist in the event at last year's World Junior Championships) was competing for the first time in the World Championships, but Syafiq had gone a few times and I think he did badly this time."
Ken Nee said he will have to talk with the coaches and divers to find out what went wrong in Singapore.
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