Will Malaysia field Dhabitah, Wendy in 2025 SEA Games?

PHNOM PENH – Malaysia Swimming (MS) is not discounting the possibility of featuring elite divers in the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand.

MS secretary-general Mae Chen said this came after Thailand Swimming Association is ready to feature eight events for diving at the biennial Games. 

“When I spoke to Thailand Swimming Association, they told me that they are ready to have eight events (to be contested in 2025 SEA Games).  

“If we have eight events and if other juniors are not ready, then we might field senior divers – maybe Wendy Ng Yan Yee if she wants or Nur Dhabitah Sabri and so forth,” she said when met at Morodok Techo Aquatic Centre, here. 

In the 2023 SEA Games here, the elite divers have been left out to give exposure to young divers at the international level.  

Although most of the divers in Phnom Penh are from the backup squad, they did exceptionally well in helping Malaysia complete a clean sweep of all four golds at stake, thus eclipsing the three gold targets. 

What was more interesting is that two of four gold medallists are first-timers in the Games – Lee Yiat Wing, who won the women’s platform and men’s platform champion, Enrique Maccartney Harold. 

The other gold medal contributors are Kimberly Bong in the women’s 3m springboard individual and Muhammad Syafiq Puteh in the men’s 3m springboard individual. 

Commenting on overall performance of national divers in Cambodia, Mae said they had no pressure to prove their prowess in the pool, especially for the women’s platform as the diving difficulty for both divers, Yiat Qing and Nur Eilisha Rania Muhammad Abrar Raj, were still quite low among all divers. 

She also believed that 15-year-old Yiat Qing has a bright future in front of her following the wonderful outing in Phnom Penh.  

“Well, what else can I say,  I am very happy the juniors managed to step up to expectation. 

“Our girls are actually one of the weakest in terms of diving difficulties but then Yiat Qing performed beyond expectation even though Nur Eilisha was the one with the higher level of diving difficulty, so, in the end, it was Yiat Qing who was very composed throughout the competition,” she said. 

While other countries are slowly improving their dives, Mae hopes to see the national coaches refine their training method including increasing diving difficulty so as to ensure Malaysia keeps its status quo as the diving powerhouse in Southeast Asia. 

Mae said the floodgates are now open for all young divers to vie for a place along with elite divers such as diving queen, Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah for the 2024 Olympic Games following their successful outing in Cambodia. 

She believed this was due to the fact MS plans to field more up-and-coming divers in international competitions such as the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July or even the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from Sept 23 to Oct 8. 

“Like Enrique and Bertrand, they will be going to the World Aquatic Championships as we want to give them more exposure (international stage).  They may not be able to achieve anything, but they might stand a chance to earn a respectable score,” she said. – Bernama, May 12, 2023