Congratulations to Pandelela Rinong for clinching Malaysia’s first-ever gold medal in the Diving World Cup.
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This will serve as a huge boost, not only for Pandelela but the Malaysian diving camp ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
Credit to the Sarawak-born who rose to the occasion in the absence of divers from China, North Korea and Australia at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
The result could have been different had these three countries competed for honours.
But take nothing from the evergreen Pandelela, who has worked hard over the years to put Malaysia on the diving map.
However, Pandelela’s success hardly paints her perfect picture for Malaysian diving, except for buying more time for Christian Brooker, Li Rui and Li Ten in the bid to prolong their stay as coaches of the national team.
The World Cup, in actual fact, showed how low Malaysian diving has become since the departure of former coach Yang Zhuliang.
Earning only five of 12 available quota spots for the Tokyo Olympics after the conclusion of the World Cup actually signifies a rot in Malaysian diving as the country had grabbed eight quota tickets for the 2016 Rio Games.
While four quota spots were secured from the 2019 World Championships and Asian Cup, the only Malaysian diver to book an Olympic spot at the World Cup was Cheong Jun Hoong, who topped the women’s 10m platform individual prelim event but flopped in the semi-finals yesterday.
Syafiq Puteh may earn an additional spot through the backdoor, but it all depends on Fina when the world body release the final list of entries for the men’s 3m springboard event next month for the Olympics.
As it stands, Malaysia will not have representatives in the men’s 3m springboard and 10m platform individual and synchro disciplines and in the women’s springboard synchro at the Olympics this year.
It is time for the Sports Ministry and the National Sports Council (NSC) to intervene and save Malaysian diving before it is too late.
There are now concerns that all the good work started by former NSC director-general Datuk Mazlan Ahmad in the 1990s will go down the drain.
If nothing is done, Malaysian diving will be in danger of losing its world power status in a few years.
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Under Zhuliang, Malaysia were second-best in Asia and among the top-five diving countries in the world. However, we can no longer claim we are among the best based on the results in the World Cup.
Malaysia have fallen into mediocrity with its divers finishing behind countries like South Korea, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Georgia, Belarus, Jamaica and Singapore in some of the events at the World Cup.
To stop the rot, the Sports Ministry should reinstall Zhuliang as the national coach for the new Olympic cycle ahead of the Paris Games. Malaysian diving needs to start from the basics to regain its pride.
However, it is not that the current coaching setup is not good enough. The Sports Ministry just need to beef it up by hiring Zhuliang.
Malaysian diving has been relying on the same athletes for many years with no sign of new divers graduating from the junior ranks and making a statement in the international arena. This is a huge worry for fans.
Zhuliang was accused of many things when his contract was not renewed in 2017; from allowing a “culture and environment of fear” in the national team to being ‘old school’ in his training methods.
However, whether it’s old school or not, he still managed to produce quality divers from former world champion Jun Hoong to Pandelela.
Malaysia Swimming (MS) may now have bragging rights following Pandelela’s success, but the real deal is the Tokyo Olympics when the best in the world gather for the platform event.
Jun Hoong is not an enemy but a Malaysian competitor who is still willing to fight on to bring glory to the nation, despite her injuries.
The diver probably still lacks fitness, considering that the World Cup was her first competition in three years.
One thing for sure Jun Hoong, under the watchful eyes of Zhuliang, will emerge as a strong competitor at the Tokyo Olympics.
It would have been better if Pandelela-Jun Hoong were still paired in the women’s platform synchro to defend their Rio Games silver in Tokyo.
But due to Jun Hoong’s injury and internal issues over the years, they are no longer pairing up. Hopefully, this will not affect Malaysia’s medal chances in the Olympics.
One thing for sure, Malaysia will have two strong divers in Jun Hoong and Pandelela in the platform individual event at the Olympics against world champions China and other contenders. We hope one of them can win Malaysia’s first Olympic gold in Tokyo.-NST