The
medal winners of the women's 10m platform individual event at the
Diving World Series third leg in London (from left): Meaghan Benfeito of
Canada, Chen Ruolin of China and Pandelela Rinong.
PETALING JAYA: The London Aquatics Centre turned
out to be another happy hunting ground for Malaysian diver Pandelela
Rinong as she snatched her third individual medal in the third leg of
the Diving World Series.
Pandelela, who won the bronze when the London Olympics took place at the venue two years ago, produced an impressive performance to finish third in the women’s 10m platform individual final.
Pandelela chalked up a superb 81.60 in her final dive to confirm the bronze with her total of 380.70 points.
It was her second career best total score since the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China, where she took the silver with a 381.75 total behind Mexican Paola Espinosa. Espinosa, the 2009 world champion, failed to qualify for Sunday’s final.
It was a tightly-contested final with little separating Olympic
champion Chen Ruolin of China, Canadian Meaghan Benfeito, Li Huixia of
China and Pandelela.
The 21-year-old Pandelela was placed fifth despite scoring 72.00 and 78.30 for her first two dives.
But Pandelela was rewarded for her consistency as she scored 72.00 and 76.80 to move to a bronze-medal position while Huixia stumbled out of the top three after she could only manage 51.15 in her fourth dive.
Huixia, the winner of the first two legs in Beijing and Dubai, only managed 368.75 points at the end of the five-dive competition.
Ruolin managed to overtake Benfeito with her last two attempts to secure the gold with a 400.55 total. Benfeito bagged the silver, her first medal of the season, with 394.75 points.
Pandelela was delighted to finish above a Chinese diver for the first time in her career.
“I broke my record for this year, but not yet my personal best since 2011. I have to keep training hard and learn from the great divers all around the world,” she tweeted after her win.
It was a great end to the week for Pandelela as she and Leong Mun Yee failed in their bid to win a medal in the platform synchro on Friday. The could only manage to finish fourth.
Pandelela, Mun Yee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Wendy Ng, Ahmad Amsyar and Ooi Tze Liang will now head to Moscow for the fourth leg this weekend.
Pandelela, who won the bronze when the London Olympics took place at the venue two years ago, produced an impressive performance to finish third in the women’s 10m platform individual final.
Pandelela chalked up a superb 81.60 in her final dive to confirm the bronze with her total of 380.70 points.
It was her second career best total score since the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China, where she took the silver with a 381.75 total behind Mexican Paola Espinosa. Espinosa, the 2009 world champion, failed to qualify for Sunday’s final.
The 21-year-old Pandelela was placed fifth despite scoring 72.00 and 78.30 for her first two dives.
But Pandelela was rewarded for her consistency as she scored 72.00 and 76.80 to move to a bronze-medal position while Huixia stumbled out of the top three after she could only manage 51.15 in her fourth dive.
Huixia, the winner of the first two legs in Beijing and Dubai, only managed 368.75 points at the end of the five-dive competition.
Ruolin managed to overtake Benfeito with her last two attempts to secure the gold with a 400.55 total. Benfeito bagged the silver, her first medal of the season, with 394.75 points.
Pandelela was delighted to finish above a Chinese diver for the first time in her career.
“I broke my record for this year, but not yet my personal best since 2011. I have to keep training hard and learn from the great divers all around the world,” she tweeted after her win.
It was a great end to the week for Pandelela as she and Leong Mun Yee failed in their bid to win a medal in the platform synchro on Friday. The could only manage to finish fourth.
Pandelela, Mun Yee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Wendy Ng, Ahmad Amsyar and Ooi Tze Liang will now head to Moscow for the fourth leg this weekend.
by Lim Teik Huat - The Star
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