Pain for Pandelela

Splash out: Pandelela Rinong in action during the women’s 10m platform preliminary at the World Championships. — Reuters

PETALING JAYA: It has been a forgettable World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan for top Malaysian platform diver Pandelela Rinong as she missed out on the semi-finals for the first time.

Pandelela’s bid to become the first Malaysian athlete to qualify for the Paris Olympics fizzled out after she failed to clear the preliminary round stage in the women’s 10m platform individual at the World Aquatics Championships yesterday. Pandelela, the bronze medallist in the event at the previous world meet in Budapest last year, struggled to bring out her best performance and surprisingly finished 24th in her pet event with 256.40 points.