A DIVE GONE WRONG

IT  was supposed to be the dive that would’ve put Pandelela Rinong on the brink of capturing the elusive World Championships individual medal in Barcelona, instead it cost her dearly as she ended up in sixth place in the 10m platform individual final.

The two-time National Sportswoman of the Year, who is competing in her third consecutive finals chalked up 334.55 points.

Pandelela falls at the final hurdle to end up sixth
 in the 10m individual platform final

Pandelela, an Olympic bronze medallist in the event, failed to balance herself while preparing to take-off from the platform for her ‘Armstand Back 2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twist Free’ routine during her third attempt.

To her credit, she then retook and execute the dive well enough, but was slapped with a hefty penalty that cost her 14 points, with each of the seven judges deducting two points.

She was awarded a low 54.50 for that attempt.

It dealt a huge blow to the 20-year-old’s morale, having started convincingly with 70.50 and 76.80 in the first two dives to stay on course for the bronze medal. She was already off pace from the two mighty Chinese divers Chen Ruolin and Si Yajie, who had opened a big lead at the top.

The previous dive indeed affected Pandelela’s spirit as she flopped in the subsequent dive, earning just 56.00. With two poor scores in a row, her position plummeted from third to sixth.

But to her credit, she picked herself up to conclude her unhappy campaign with a decent dive that gave her 76.80 points to hang on in sixth place – a standing that left her crushed in the end.

The competition also saw 14-year-old prodigy Yajie (392.15) became new world champion as she narrowly dethroned defending champion Ruolin (388.70).

Ruolin, also a two-time silver medallist in Rome 2009 and Melbourne 2007, had never lost in any of the world major competition since 2011 as she went on to win the World Cup and London Olympic last year.

European champion Iuliia Propkochuk (358.40) of Ukraine, won her first ever world meet medal as she emerged triumphant in the ‘battle of the rest of the world’ to take the third spot.