Saturday August 11, 2012
YANG Zhuliang never lost faith in Pandelela Rinong and she repaid him with an Olympic medal. But her coach said it had been a tough last few day as Pandelela’s confidence had taken a beating after a poor performance in the 10m synchronised platform event last week.
“Confidence is vital in diving. I managed to get her to believe in herself again and she delivered,” said an elated Zhuliang.
“Pandelela has had sleepless nights since arriving in London and the poor showing in the synchronised event did not help.
“Expectations were high and the pressure must have got to her. She had been in fine form when we were training China.
“But I always knew that she had the quality to prevail and she has proved me right.”
He said this was just the beginning for her.
“We have to go back to the drawing board and see how to improve further but she is capable of winning much more now,” he said.
“The Chinese divers are very good but not unbeatable. They have a good system in place and there are many such talented divers but we can match them.”