The question of whether the national diving squad can add one more slot for the Olympics in Rio through Ahmad Amsyar Azman was finally answered when the Perlis-born athlete was not listed among the final 34 participants that will take part in the Games this August.
This was revealed by Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) secretary-general Mae Chen after receiving a letter from the International Swimming Federation (FINA) yesterday.
“Amsyar failed to earn a spot in the 3m springboard event unless someone pulls out. If that happens, then Amsyar might get a chance,” she said as quoted by Harian Metro.
However, Amsyar’s dream to perform at the Olympic Games in Brazil may come true as ASUM is considering to list him in the 3m springboard event through Ooi Tze Liang’s slot.
“ASUM might bring Amsyar to Brazil and there is a chance he might feature in the 3m springboard event, which allows Tze Liang to focus on the 10m platform event. At the end of the day, the decision will only be made by head coach Yang Zhuliang,” Mae Chen added.
Pandelela Rinong (10m platform, 10m synchronized diving), Wendy Ng (3m springboard), Nur Dhabitah Sabri (10m platform, 3m synchronized diving), Cheong Jun Hoong (10m synchronized diving, 3m springboard, 3m synchronized diving) and Ooi Tze Liang (10m platform, 3m springboard) will compete at the Rio Olympics in August 2016.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
We couldn’t feel more Amsyar Azman at the moment because he worked so hard to get where he is today, and one small mistake in the fifth round allowed him to miss out on automatic qualification. He was hoping for Lady Luck to be on his side to qualify through the quota count, but unfortunately again, the Perlis-born athlete did not manage to make the cut for the final list. Now, ASUM told him to hang on because they might give his partner’s 3m springboard slot to him so that Tze Liang can just focus on the 10m platform event. If I were a betting man, I would not count on that because if it’s not meant to be, it won’t happen.
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