National diving queen Pandelela Rinong Pamg has confirmed her entry to the 2016 Rio Olympics after getting through to the final round of the 16th FINA World Aquatic Championships in the women’s 10m platform event, which is currently taking place in the Aquatic Palace, Kazan, Russia.
12 best divers in Russia will get automatic qualification for Rio 2016, and Pandelela finished 8th out of 18 participants, with a point total of 338.10, in the semi-final yesterday.
The Sarawak born will be in action later today, in the final.
Another Malaysia representative, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, meanwhile failed to make it through to the final as she ended up in 14th place, with 316.40 points.
Earlier, Pandelela partnered Leong Mun Yee in the 10m platform women’s synchronising event, but only managed to finish at 7th place.
Mun Yee, 30, stated her disappointment towards their failure in finishing in the top three, consequently missing out on an earlier ticket to Rio Olympics next year.
“Obviously we regret not being able to finish in the top three, and our inability to book an earlier spot to Rio. Now we have to wait until next year, where there will be 4-7 more events to ensure our qualifications,” she said when contacted by Utusan yesterday.
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