National diving team need to double up efforts to achieve optimum performance

HANGZHOU - After an impressive result at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the national diving team must prepare physically and mentally for a challenging season next year.

Asian Games aquatics team manager Datuk Leong Mun Yee described the 2024 season as strenuous because the divers will have to work hard not only to improve their performance but also to maintain their best level in two major competitions.

The two prestigious competitions are the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"As far as the men's 10-metre platform is concerned, the difficulty level needs to be increased and also the consistency, because to perform well you need to be consistent now (and) have a high difficulty level.

"As far as the men's 10-metre platform is concerned, the level of difficulty needs to be increased and also the consistency, because to perform one need to be consistent now (and) and have a high level of difficulty.

"For the women, we have to be consistent because we already have a high level of difficulty. It is true that our divers have to work harder for next year because next year will not be easy," he said when met here today.

Young diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises has emerged as the first Malaysian to book a slot on merit to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after finishing among the top 10 in the 10m platform at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan last July.

The 2024 World Aquatics Championships will serve as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics.

The 18-year-old, who won bronze in the men's 10-metre platform with Enrique Maccartney Harold and finished fourth here, admitted he was ready to increase the difficulty of his dive.

"I was ready before I came here. As everyone knows, we did a training camp in Sichuan so we were ready to learn new diving techniques but there was not enough time to learn and practice here," he said.

At the Asian Games this time, the national diving team won one silver from the 3m synchronized diving and four bronze medals in women's 10m synchronized diving, men's 3m synchronised diving, men's 10m synchronized diving and women's 10m synchronized diving.

The achievement in Hangzhou was an improvement compared with the one silver and three bronze medals achieved at the 2018 edition in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia. - BERNAMA