Khairy shares fist bumps with Pandelela, Dhabitah to celebrate success
PETALING JAYA: In celebration for making it into the finals of the women’s 10m platform individual event, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin shared fist bumps with national divers Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri.
He also hugged Pandelela’s father, Pamg Joheng, as well.
“With @Pandelela_R's proud family at the diving venue. Sarawak represent!” tweeted Khairy on Thursday.
“Fist bumps for the girls & big hug for Lela's dad. Parents are the secret weapons to sporting glory!” he said in a later tweet, which came with pictures capturing the heart-warming moments.
He had been tweeting updates of the two divers’ progress throughout the event.
Khairy is currently in Rio de Janeiro to support Malaysian Olympians and had been watching the diving event at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre.
Earlier, the Malaysian divers completed their five rounds of dives in the semi-finals for the women’s 10m platform individual event.
Coming in sixth place and twelfth place respectively, both Pandelela and Dhabitah advanced to the finals, which will be held on Friday at 3am.
Pandelela won a bronze medal in the same event at the 2012 London Olympic Games and will be eyeing a second medal in Rio after taking silver in the synchronised 10m platform with Cheong Jun Hoong.
Pandelela, Dhabitah in 10m platform finals at Rio Olympics
PETALING JAYA: It is a great success for Malaysia as both divers Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri have advanced to the finals of the women’s 10 platform individual event at the Rio Olympics.
Pandelela did well to finish in sixth place with 336.95 points at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday.
Dhabitah came in eleventh, with 307.65 points.
The top 12 divers will be competing at the finals, which will be held at 3am on Friday.
China’s divers will prove hard to beat with Si Yajie taking the first spot and Ren Qian in the third place in the semi-finals with 389.30 points and 362.40 points respectively.
Jessica Parrato of the United States beat Ren Qian for second place with 367.00 points.
In fourth and fifth place were Melissa Wu of Australia and Un Hyang Kim of North Korea with 346.00 points and 343.70 points respectively.
Pandelela won a bronze medal in the event at the 2012 London Olympic Games and will be eyeing a second medal in Rio after taking silver in the synchronised 10m platform with Cheong Jun Hoong.
This is Dhabitah’s first time at the Olympics but she had proven to have nerves of steel during the women's 3m synchronized springboard event with Cheong Jun Hoong.
There had been hope for a medal at the event until Jun Hoong inexplicably made a gaffe in round four with a big splash.
