Malaysian Divers Fall Short In Synchro Final At Worlds

By Nur Ashikin Abdul Aziz

SINGAPORE, July 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s national divers Elvis Priestly Clement and Lee Yiat Qing had to settle for 11th place in the mixed 10-metre (m) synchronised event final at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre here today.

The pair, who made their world championships debut in the mixed 3m and 10m team event yesterday, delivered a commendable effort across five dives but managed to finish ahead of only one team in a competitive 12-team field, scoring a total of 247.86 points.

The gold medal went to China’s Zhu Yongxin and Xie Peiling with 323.04 points, while silver was claimed by North Korea’s Choe Wi Hyon and Jo Jin Mi (322.98 points).

Aleksandr Bondar and Anna Konanykhina of Russia, who are competing as Neutral Athletes B (NAB), finished third with 311.88 points.

Meanwhile, another two Malaysian world championships debutants Nurqayyum Nazmi Mohamad Nazim and Yong Rui Jie failed to advance to the men’s 1m springboard final, after finishing outside the top 12 in the preliminaries.

Rui Jie finished 41st, while Nazmi -- who won bronze at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships -- placed 44th out of 59 divers.

Earlier, national swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean failed to advance to the final of the men’s 400m freestyle event after finishing 28th overall in the heats at the World Aquatics Championships Arena.

The two-time SEA Games gold medallist clocked 3 minutes 51.11s to finish ninth in Heat Three. He will next compete in the men’s 100m, 200m, and 800m freestyle events in the coming days.

 Andrew Goh Zheng Yen did not start in the men’s 100m breaststroke event today due to illness.

Malaysia's national head coach Eric Anderson, when contacted by Bernama, said Andrew is currently recovering at the hotel and hopes to be ready for the men’s 50m breaststroke heats scheduled for Tuesday (July 29).

Anderson added that another national swimmer, Bryan Leong Xin Ren, had to skip the tournament due to work commitments in the United Kingdom.

He was originally scheduled to compete in the men’s 50m and 100m butterfly events.

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, running from July 11 July to Aug 3, features water polo, diving, high diving, swimming, artistic swimming and open water swimming.

-- BERNAMA