Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee win the 10m synchronised diving event - World Diving Grand Prix
The Malaysian duo of Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee, have won the gold medal in the 10m platform synchronised diving competition in the World Diving Grand Prix. The event is organised by FINA, which is swimming’s international governing body.
They are the first Malaysian pair to conquer world diving in the synchronised event, as no duo from the country has achieved the feat in the past. The pair reached Germany last week to compete at the FINA World Diving Championships.
Pandelela is the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the individual 10m platform category, along with a silver medal in the 10m synchronised platform event. She also won a bronze medal at the 2009 Rome World Championships. The 18-year-old Pandelela
also won two individual silver medals in the 10m platform and 3m springboard at the Moscow and Beijing stops of the 2011 FINA World Diving Series.
Her team-mate, Mun Yee, has won two silver medals in the synchronised events of 3m springboard and 10m platform at the 2010 Asian Games.
The pair captured the World Diving gold medal by scoring 312.96 points, while the Chinese duo of Si Yajie and Xing Yiying settled second after scoring 309.00 points. The German duo of Subschinski and Christin Steuer won the bronze medal as they scored 300.54
points.
Pandelela said, “The German Open was the last meet for us before the world championships. The coach felt this will be a good tune-up as we can see what we need to improve on before we go to Shanghai.”
While expressing her thoughts about the tough competition in the world events, she said, “It’s a pleasant surprise to win the gold medal here but we still have a lot to work on as the competition is stronger at the world championships.”
Recently, the Malaysian coach restricted Mun Yee from participating in individual events, claiming that her focus on the synchronised events will prove fruitful for Malaysia. Now, the only chance for Mun Yee to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics depends
on her participation in the synchronised events at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships.
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