The 22-year-old has achieved several breakthrough performances since coming under Zhuliang’s wings again and the Olympics could be a defining moment for Bryan if he gets his act right.
Bryan bagged individual bronze medals in the discipline at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games and Guangzhou Asian Games.
Eyeing new heights: The Olympics could be a defining moment for Bryan Nickson Lomas if he gets his act right.The Sarawak-born diver impressed with a near perfect execution of a four-and-a-half somersault forward dive on his fourth attempt in the platform final in London.
Bryan, however, did an average final dive and finished eighth eventually.
Zhuliang said Bryan can spring a surprise with an individual medal if he executes the two complex dives well.
“Even the Chinese divers are not using it at the moment as their routines are consistent enough not to gamble unnecessarily.
“The problem with Bryan is his entries are not clean. He did the four-and-a-half somersault spectacularly and it got him 104 points for that dive alone.
“Bryan has to train for one more difficult dive – the two-and-a-half backwards somersault with twists.
“He can do the one-and-a-half backwards somersault but needs to master the two-and-a-half as well if he wants to have any chance of winning an Olympic medal as the competition for the men’s platform is so strong.
“Bryan will have to work on it during the six-week training stint in China next month.
“I hope he will be ready to use it at the Olympics.
“If he does okay, he can easily hit above 530 points,” said Zhuliang, who is hoping Bryan will be inspired by what Matthew Mitcham of Australia did at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Mitcham, who had never tasted success in a major world competition, stunned the Chinese home crowd by denying them a clean sweep of the eight Olympic gold medals at stake.
The Aussie entered the final round of the 10m platform in second place, 34 points behind Zhou Luxin. He then made a near perfect final dive and managed to claim the gold as Luxin faltered under pressure.
Zhuliang, who was coaching in Australia at that time, had a hand in preparing Mitcham the year before the Beijing Games.
Bryan, who will be making his third Olympic appearance, has never gone beyond the semi-finals in the individual platform.
He will also compete in the men’s 3m springboard synchro with Huang Qiang at the Olympics for the first time.
Malaysia will be sending their biggest diving squad to the Games, having already qualified for 10 out of a maximum 12 quota spots.
The Olympic-bound divers, with the exception of Traisy Vivien Tukiet who is nursing a foot injury, are currently in Montreal for the Canadian Open this weekend.
THE STAR
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