Hectic schedule means no time to savour the moment

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KUCHING: State diving Olympian, Pandelela Pamg Rinong had hardly any time to celebrate her second straight Sportswoman of the Year Award.

Her father George Pamg told The Borneo Post that the 20-year-old diver was accompanied by the elder brother Pardika Indoma during the award ceremony and she had to fly off to Edinburgh, Scotland early yesterday morning.

Pardika was able to join her for the ceremony because he is currently studying at Universiti Malaya (UM).

Pandelela had told her family that she had to leave soon after the ceremony because of the third leg of the FINA Diving World Series which starts this weekend.

The rest of the national team members were already there.

“We are very proud of her achievement and of course she was quite confident of winning it for the second time because of her achievement in last year’s London Olympics,” said the proud father in a telephone interview yesterday.

“There was every indication that Pandelela would win the award and we were also happy that she is also the first woman athlete from Sarawak to ever win it for two consecutive years,” he said.

Pandelela has been away from home since early February and had only spent two nights with her family since then.

“We had missed her so much and she came back only for two nights during her recent visit on April 6…she looked all right and was looking forward to taking part in the international events,” the father added.

Meanwhile, Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) director Francis Nyurang Ding lauded Pandelela’s achievement in the national sports award and said it would serve to inspire other local athletes.

“She is a role model to all of us and we are very proud to have her as the first local athlete to ever win the prestigious award for two consecutive years,” Francis added.