Shi (right, back row) and Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) sports development officer for diving Wesley Inyau Wella (left) pose with the divers. — Photos by Teo Chi Wei and Tommy Ng
KUCHING: The Sarawak diving team is maintaining its two-gold target for Sukma Johor 2022 despite its training programme being affected by the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
All training stopped in March last year and only resumed in June. The plan to send the divers for a training stint in Tianjin in May last year was also aborted.
“Yes, the performance of our divers has been affected ever since March last year and they are not in tip-top condition yet,” admitted head coach Shi Yang who is from China.
He was head coach of Negeri Sembilan diving team for three years before joining Sarawak in February 2019.
“We are still going for two gold medals. Our focus will be retaining the gold medals in the women’s individual platform and women’s synchronised platform.
“We are also hoping to spring a golden surprise in the men’s synchronised platform,” he said.
At the last Sukma in Perak three years ago, Sarawak bagged two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
Enrique in action at Sukma Perak.
The gold medals were delivered by Kimberly Bong and Elisha Rania in the women’s synchronised platform and Kimberly Bong in the women’s individual platform.
Enrique Maccartney won the men’s individual platform silver and partnered Bertrand Rhodict to take the men’s synchronised platform silver while the bronze medals were contributed by Elisha in the women’s individual platform and Bertrand in the men’s individual platform.
Shi has picked Selangor, Federal Territories and Sabah as Sarawak’s main rivals in Johor.
“There is bound to be pressure on the team but we are still confident of achieving our target,” stressed Shi, adding that he hoped that in the next half of the year or the end of the pandemic, the divers will peak in their performance and be ready to pose a strong challenge in the coming Sukma.
He said it was hard to predict whether the team would be able to have local stints in Peninsula Malaysia or go for overseas stints.
To overcome the lack of exposure, the divers are involved in assessment tests every month.
Sarawak will be sending six male and three female divers to Johor.
Kimberly Bong (left) and Elisha won the women’s synchronised platform gold at Sukma Perak in 2018.
Apart from newcomers Soh Tze Kang and Jared Aiden, the others have been retained from the last Sukma squad.
Sarawak has five divers in the national squad namely Kimberly Bong, Elisha, Enrique, Bertrand and Elvis Priestly while other female diver in the state team is Dayang Nursharsyra.
On the present squad, Shi said, apart from Kimberly Bong, the other eight divers can still compete in the next two or three Sukma.
Currently, Awang Sharzan Nasrin, Soh, Jared and Nursharzyra are training under Shi at the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre from 2.30pm to 7pm every Monday to Saturday.
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