All eyes were on our nation’s hope, Malaysia’s pair of divers Pandelela Rinong anak Pamg and Cheong Jun Hoong as they took on the women’s 10m platform synchronised at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. Though the prospect of our athletes bringing home Malaysia’s first Rio Olympics medal was generally positive, we still held our breaths because of the suspense that ensued.
Previously, Pandalela earned a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics while Jun Hoong competed in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.
Alas, what a day to be up early and alive!
The Malaysian duo successfully delivered Malaysia’s first medal at the Rio Games with a silver medal in the women’s 10m platform synchronised. Pandelela-Jun Hoong scored a total of 344.34 points after 5 dives at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, finishing second behind China’s Chen Ruolin-Liu Huixia.
Chen Roulin-Liu Huixia who won the gold medal with 354.00 total while Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito-Roseline Filion settled for bronze with 336.18.
https://twitter.com/youtholympics/status/763123582289444864
Upon the win, 23-year-old Pandelela gushed, “We are so proud to have won Malaysia’s first medal at this Olympics. There was pressure but we told ourselves to keep calm and focus on doing what we had been doing in training. I am so glad that our hard work has paid off.”
26-year-old Jun Hoong, who earlier missed out on a medal in the 3m springboard synchronised, added, “I told myself to forget what had happened in the 3m event and to focus on the 10m platform. Every day is a new day and my focus was on performing in the 10m platform.”
Congratulations, you two! #MalaysiaBoleh indeed 🙂
More information on team Malaysia at the 2016 Olympics here.
Sources: NST, The Star / Featured image: AFP.
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