Our hearts nearly leaped out of our chests when we heard that Malaysian divers Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri made it to the women’s individual 10m platform finals.
But despite not winning the gold medal in the finals, our girls Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri will leave the Rio 2016 games armed with smiles and the drive to do even better in the near future.
It was a huge step forward for Pandelela, who came home with a bronze from London 2012 from the same event and became the first woman to deliver an Olympic medal for Malaysia.
Although she finished 11th out of 12 competitors with a score of 330.45 points in the final at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, she already has a Rio Olympics silver in the bag from the 10m platform synchronised with Cheong Jun Hoong.
NST quoted her as saying, “I kept motivating myself even though I knew a medal was slipping away after each dive. Still, I am happy to have made the final.”
On the other hand, spunky Dhabitah with the million-dollar smile, who made her Olympic Games debut this year, performed better than her senior as she finished at the 9th spot with a total score of 338.00. Thus, the future looks bright for the 17-year-old Olympic finalist, as she certainly has potential to deliver even better results in the near future.
“My first Olympics has been a great experience and I am looking forward to more,” she told NST.
China took the 10m platform individual gold and silver through teenage sensation Ren Qian (439.25) and her teammate Si Yajie (419.40), while the bronze went to Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito (389.20)
Take a bow, girls! Olympic finalists. Making us proud all day, everyday. @Pandelela_R @DabhitahSabri #MalaysiaBoleh pic.twitter.com/YCYgsXWeHN
— Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) August 18, 2016
All love to our women diving athletes because they’ve both done amazingly well. Keep smiling and keep pushing forward, Pandelela and Dhabitah! We believe in you.
#MalaysiaBoleh 🙂
Sources: NST, Khairy Jamaluddin.
