KUALA LUMPUR: Cheong Jun Hoong is the fourth national elite diver ruled out of the Kuching leg of the World Grand Prix, which starts on Friday, due to a sore back.
Her absence is a huge blow to Malaysia’s hopes of winning titles but national coach Yang Zhuliang is unperturbed as the meet, held at Sarawak Aquatics Centre in Petra Jaya, is to test new routines.
All eyes will be on Malaysia Games champion Kimberly Bong whom Zhuliang is grooming for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 14-year-old, touted as the next big star in Malaysian diving, has been registered for the women’s 10 platform.
Platform specialist Pandelela Rinong was the first to withdraw as she wants time off to focus on studies and also to recover from injuries while Nur Dhabitah Sabri opted out to focus on her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations.
Veteran Leong Mun Yee is also not competing as she is recovering from a nose surgery. Jun Hoong and the others will only return to competition next year.
Zhuliang said it was best for Jun Hoong to skip competitions until next year as she has been carrying back injuries for the last 10 years.
With Jun Hoong’s absence, Malaysia will only have one Olympian in Wendy Ng competing for honours in the women’s events in Kuching with Kimberly, Loh Zhiayi and Jasmine Lai completing the squad.
Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Ooi Tze Liang leads the men’s squad, also comprising Ahmad Amsyar Azman, Chew Yiwei and Syafiq Puteh.
“Kimberly will leap from a 10m board for the first time in her career in the platform event here. When she won the Malaysia Games platform gold in July, she did so from a 5m board. (In some meets, divers are allowed to leap from a 5m or 7.5m board in the platform event,” said Zhuliang.
“She was in Dongguan, China for a two-week training stint and I tested her on the 10m board. I also added harder routines as I want her to increase her degree of difficulty (DD) from the current 1.9 to 2.7.
“I do not expect miracles from Kimberly as it is her first senior event. I would be happy if she can execute simple routines without errors from the 10m board.”
Tze Liang will only compete in the 3m springboard with Yiwei, who has also been registered for the individual event together with Amsyar and Syafiq. Zhuliang is still undecided whether to field them in the platform events.
Wendy and Jasmine will compete in the women’s springboard with Kimberly and Zhiayi in the platform. They will not compete in the synchro disciplines.
China have left behind their Olympic gold medallists but they are still expected to dominate through their former world champions.
Among them are 2015 men’s world champion Yang Hao and Yang Jian (2014 World Cup gold medallist) along with Wang Han (2015 women’s world champion).
Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore and the United States complete the eight-team competition.