KUALA LUMPUR: The newly-formed pairing of Bryan Nickson Lomas and Huang Qiang earned a big confidence booster ahead of the London Olympics by winning the men’s 3m springboard diving title at the Canadian Open in Montreal.
Bryan-Huang Qiang denied reigning Commonwealth Games champions Reuben Ross and Alexandre Despatie in their own backyard by scoring the highest points in their last two attempts to finish with a total of 431.31.
Ross-Despatie settled for silver with 419.58 points while Mexicans Rommel Pacheco-Jonathan Rovalcaba, the bronze medallists at the World Championships in Shanghai last year, took the bronze on 388.71.
The Malaysians had a slim lead after the first two compulsory dives but found themselves trailing by five points after the Canadians scored 80.58 for their first optional effort.
The Canadians extended their lead after the fourth dive with 88.11 as the Malaysians could only respond with 81.18.
However, Ross-Despatie lost any advantage they had by only posting 70.35 for a slightly higher difficulty on their fifth attempt.
The Malaysian pair had a lower difficulty but pulled off an oustanding fifth dive to earn 87.72.
Bryan-Huang Qiang sealed a glorious victory after their sixth and final jump earned another high mark of 84.66 as Ross-Despatie, the bronze medallists at the World Championships in Rome in 2009, succumbed to the pressure and only managed 78.54.
Bryan-Huang Qiang not only became the first Malaysian male divers to win gold in the World Grand Prix circuit but proved that their success in qualifying for the Olympics on their very first attempt at the London World Cup in February was no fluke.
Their main rivals from China and Ukraine did not take part but it was still a respectable field with six out of the eight pairs that will be competing at the Olympics present in Montreal.
Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said it was an impressive showing by Bryan-Huang Qiang considering it was only their second competition together.
“It’s good for their confidence level heading to the Olympics. Bryan and Huang Qiang fought well to finish ahead of the more experienced Canadian pair,” he said.
Bryan and Huang Qiang certainly brought the cheers for the Malaysian camp as Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee had earlier flopped in the women’s 10m platform synchro final.
Pandelela-Mun Yee, who finished runners-up in the prestigious FINA Diving World Series recently, failed to make an impact and ended fifth with 301.32 points.
Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito clinched the gold medal for Canada with 327.96 points.
Bryan’s failure to pull off the difficult four-and-a-half forward somersault dive cost him a chance to fight for a medal in the 10m platform final. He landed awkwardly and only received 25.90 for the second dive to eventually finish last of the six competitors in the final with a total of 390.75 points.
Andres Villareal of Mexico took gold with 512.00 points.
It was a similar story for Cheong Jun Hoong in the women’s 3m springboard final.
She got 33.60 for her second dive and failed to recover to settle for sixth place with 275.00 points.
Huang Qiang and Pandelela are due to compete in the respective springboard and platform individual finals being held on the final day of competition.
THE STAR
Bryan-Huang Qiang denied reigning Commonwealth Games champions Reuben Ross and Alexandre Despatie in their own backyard by scoring the highest points in their last two attempts to finish with a total of 431.31.
Ross-Despatie settled for silver with 419.58 points while Mexicans Rommel Pacheco-Jonathan Rovalcaba, the bronze medallists at the World Championships in Shanghai last year, took the bronze on 388.71.
The Malaysians had a slim lead after the first two compulsory dives but found themselves trailing by five points after the Canadians scored 80.58 for their first optional effort.
The Canadians extended their lead after the fourth dive with 88.11 as the Malaysians could only respond with 81.18.
However, Ross-Despatie lost any advantage they had by only posting 70.35 for a slightly higher difficulty on their fifth attempt.
The Malaysian pair had a lower difficulty but pulled off an oustanding fifth dive to earn 87.72.
Bryan-Huang Qiang sealed a glorious victory after their sixth and final jump earned another high mark of 84.66 as Ross-Despatie, the bronze medallists at the World Championships in Rome in 2009, succumbed to the pressure and only managed 78.54.
Bryan-Huang Qiang not only became the first Malaysian male divers to win gold in the World Grand Prix circuit but proved that their success in qualifying for the Olympics on their very first attempt at the London World Cup in February was no fluke.
Their main rivals from China and Ukraine did not take part but it was still a respectable field with six out of the eight pairs that will be competing at the Olympics present in Montreal.
Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said it was an impressive showing by Bryan-Huang Qiang considering it was only their second competition together.
“It’s good for their confidence level heading to the Olympics. Bryan and Huang Qiang fought well to finish ahead of the more experienced Canadian pair,” he said.
Bryan and Huang Qiang certainly brought the cheers for the Malaysian camp as Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee had earlier flopped in the women’s 10m platform synchro final.
Pandelela-Mun Yee, who finished runners-up in the prestigious FINA Diving World Series recently, failed to make an impact and ended fifth with 301.32 points.
Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito clinched the gold medal for Canada with 327.96 points.
Bryan’s failure to pull off the difficult four-and-a-half forward somersault dive cost him a chance to fight for a medal in the 10m platform final. He landed awkwardly and only received 25.90 for the second dive to eventually finish last of the six competitors in the final with a total of 390.75 points.
Andres Villareal of Mexico took gold with 512.00 points.
It was a similar story for Cheong Jun Hoong in the women’s 3m springboard final.
She got 33.60 for her second dive and failed to recover to settle for sixth place with 275.00 points.
Huang Qiang and Pandelela are due to compete in the respective springboard and platform individual finals being held on the final day of competition.
THE STAR
0 comments:
Post a Comment