KUALA LUMPUR: Former diving world champion Cheong Jun Hoong announced her retirement from the sport on Tuesday.
The decision was made after the National Sports Council (NSC) and Malaysia Swimming (MS) opted not to renew her contract as a full-time athlete under the national programme this year.
Jun Hoong's best achievement was winning the 10m platform individual world title at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest under former national coach Yang Zhuliang.
She remains as the only world champion Malaysia has produced in the sport.
A year before that success, she won the platform synchro silver with Pandelela Rinong at the Rio Olympics.
The 31-year-old has also won titles in every major diving championships and multi-sport games.
However, she has not been able to progress following knee surgery in 2018, which kept her out of the Incheon Asian Games and other meets.
Although the Perak-born made the cut for last year's Tokyo Olympics, she did not do well.
"After the Olympics, I had restarted rehab as I was confident that I could regain my form.
"Although I wanted to continue representing the country, my contract was not renewed.
"I would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the years and helping in my development as a diver.
"On this note, I have decided to retire," Jun Hoong posted on her social media accounts.
Being a former world champion, the NSC and MS should help Jun Hoong get her coaching badges and groom her to be a national coach one day.
Jun Hoong, however, did not indicate what her future plans were after retirement.