BY Malaysia Star,

The number of divers in the Malaysian cast for the Beijing Olympics has increased with three female divers – Leong Mun Yee, Elizabeth Jimie and Pandelela Rinong – joining the list of qualifiers yesterday.

The international governing association, FINA, confirmed Mun Yee and Elizabeth as qualifiers for the individual 3m springboard event while Pandelela will feature in the individual 10m platform competition based on the rankings from the World Cup in Beijing two weeks ago.

In the second phase of competition in the World Cup, Elizabeth and Mun Yee finished fifth and seventh respectively in a 30-diver field while Pandelela secured the Olympic spot with a sixth-place finish in a 24-diver competition.

It will be the third consecutive Olympic appearance for Mun Yee, making her the first Malaysian diver to do so. She also qualified on merit for the Games in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004). Pandelela and Elizabeth will be making their Olympic debut.

A field of 68 men and 68 women will make up the two men’s and two women’s individual diving events in the Beijing Games.

With the inclusion of the three female divers, Malaysia will have four divers in the fray. Bryan Nickson qualified for the men’s individual 10m platform event from in the World Championships in Melbourne last year.

The Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary, Edwin Chong, said: “The World Cup was the final qualifying event for the Olympics. We had three divers for the Athens Games and we have definitely showed progress.

“Now that our woman divers have confirmed their places, I will talk to their coaches to finalise the training programme for them,” he said.

“They will probably get to compete in the World Grand Prix. We are also looking at getting them to go early to train in Beijing before the Olympics. They will not get to train at the Olympic venue until a week before competitions begin. But there are two training centres for diving in Beijing.”

The only individual event where Malaysia will not have a representative is the men’s 3m springboard.

“We were hoping for Yeoh Ken Nee to get among the top 18 for automatic qualification but he finished one rung lower,” said Edwin.

Besides the divers, 11 other Malaysian athletes have confirmed places in the Beijing Games thus far.

They are shooter Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan; swimmers Daniel Bego, Khoo Cai Lin and Siow Yi Ting; archers Cheng Chu Sian, Wan Mohd Khalmizam Wan Abdul Aziz and Mohd Marbawi Sulaiman; taekwondo exponents Elaine Teo and Che Chew Chan; pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu and sailor Kevin Lim, who will make a record fourth appearance in the Olympics.

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