Loh Zhiayi receiving her runners-up medal.
LOH ZHIAYI did a Pandelela by committing a blunder in her final attempt to only settle for silver medal in the girls platform at 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China this evening.
It is the first medal for the Malaysian contingent on the opening day of the Games.
The 16-year-old lass could have won a historic gold medal if she did not lose balance when attempting an armstand routine in her fourth and final dive.
She retook the dive and was slapped with point deductions, earning a lowly 43.20 points. She could have earned at least 10 extra points, if not for that mistake.
As the final total scores appeared, Zhiayi, who accumulated 411.90 points, found herself 9.10 behind surprise winner Song Namhyang of North Korea (421.00).
Zheng Qi (404.85) of China, who was the favourite in the event, finished third.
“It was really a huge miss, I almost got it (a gold medal)!”sighed Zhiayi. I suffered a similar fate as Lela (in the World Championships), losing balance and needed to retake the dive and that cost me a lot of points. So near yet so far…just because of one mistake in last dive, I have to be contented with second place.
“Nevertheless, I have achieved my target of winning a medal at AYG, I have no complaints.”
Zhiayi will be competing in 3m springboard tomorrow, but she is not expected to be challenging for a podium finish.
“I hardly practiced on springboard, as my pet event is platform. Furthermore, my DD (degree of difficulty) is low compared to others,” added Zhiayi.
“So I’m not expecting myself to win anything, but I’ll still try my very best and we will see.”
In the boys 3m springboard, Muhd. Danial Sabri (487.15) finished a creditable fourth behind Chinese duo Huang Bowen (571.50) and Zheng Ziqun (568.10) and Zeng Tian Yi (500.30) of Hong Kong.
The competition will end tomorrow with another two events taking place – girls 3m springboard and boys platform.
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