Paris 2024: Diving Camp To Return Home From Paris Empty-handed

From VIKNESWARAN RAMAN

PARIS, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- The country's diving camp returned empty-handed from the Olympics for the second time in a row, as no diver was able to achieve a podium finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On the 14th day of competitions in the Games, experienced diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri, who qualified through a quota not used by athletes from other countries, finished at the bottom of the pack among 12 divers in the final of the women's 3m Springboard event.

At the Olympic Aquatic Centre, she could only manage 244.80 points after five dives due to inconsistent performances and lack of preparation, while Chen Yiwen managed to maintain China's dominance in the event since the 1988 Seoul edition, when she clinched the gold with 376.00 points.

Earlier, Bertrand Rhodict Lises' debut ended in disappointment, failing to reach the semi-finals of the men's 10m platform event.

The 19-year-old, who finished 25th out of 26 participants in the preliminary round after scoring 313.70 points in six jumps, saw only the best 18 divers advancing to the semi-finals tomorrow.

Malaysia won its first medal in diving at the 2012 London edition, namely a bronze in the women's 10m platform through Datuk Pandelela Rinong and then a silver in the 10m platform synchronized event at the 2016 Rio Olympics through the Pandelela-Jun Hoong pairing but failed to maintain that momentum in the 2020 edition and Paris 2024.

Meanwhile, women's track cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri started the challenge in the women's sprint event with a bang when she broke her national record, before being eliminated in the 1/32 repechage round.

The 20-year-old, clocked 10.709 seconds in the qualifying round, surpassing the record of 10.903s she had set at the Asian Cycling Championships in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan last year to qualify for the next stage as the 24th fastest rider.

However, the debutant's journey did not last long when she lost to Sophie Capewell of Great Britain in the 1/32 round and also failed to break through the disappointment through a second chance after finishing the repechage race 1/32 behind Canadian rider Lauriane Genest.

At the Le Golf National, national women's professional golfer Ashley Lau continued her slump for the second day in a row, shooting a seven-over-par 79 in the third round.

After starting the campaign well with a par-72 on Wednesday to share tied 13th position, she is now tied for 52nd spot with Italy's Alessandra Fanali with a total of 12-over par 228, ahead of the final round tomorrow.

On Saturday, the focus of all Malaysians will be on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome when Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom kick off their campaign in the men's keirin event, with the goal of winning the country's first ever Olympics gold.

The first round and repechage of the event is scheduled for tomorrow evening (night in Malaysia), while the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals will be held on Sunday.

With just two days left before the 2024 Paris Games comes to a close, Malaysia has only won two bronze medals in badminton, contributed by Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men's doubles) and Lee Zii Jia (men's singles).

--BERNAMA