Pandelela shows her gold medal after the women’s 10m platform final at the Fina Diving World Cup at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on May 5. – AFP photo
KUCHING (May 9): National diving queen Pandelela Rinong deserves to be rewarded for bringing honours to Malaysia and Sarawak through her sport, said a group of Bidayuh political and community leaders.
Citing the gold medal recently won by Pandelela at the 2021 Fina Diving World Cup in Japan, they said rewarding her for achieving such a remarkable feat would be an extra motivation for her and also inspire the younger generation to achieve similar feat internationally.
They also pointed out that Pandelela, a Bidayuh from Bau, had sacrificed a lot in order to be at the top level, and therefore should be accordingly accorded with rewards and incentives in recognising the sacrifices made to bring honour to the country.
“She went through a lot of pain, and sacrificed a lot of time for training, so that she can be where she is today – an Olympic medalist and recently winning the country’s first-ever gold medal at a Fina Diving World Cup event.
“She is not like the professional athletes in other sports who can earn from sponsorships and endorsements. Therefore, she should be getting rewards and incentives to recognise her achievements and also as her motivation,” they said in a statement today.
The 28-year-old diver, who hails from Kampung Jugan in Bau, on May 5 secured Malaysia’s first ever gold medal in the Fina Diving World Cup.
She displayed an energetic and convincing dive during the women’s individual 10-metre platform final held at the Tokyo Aquatic Center, Japan by collecting 355.70 points after completing seven dives and overtaking host divers, Matsuri Arai and Caeli McKay of Canada, with 342.00 points and 338.55 points, respectively.
Pandelela’s success in winning the gold made her the only athlete to contribute a medal for the national diving team at the World Cup this time.
Her achievement has since been hailed as a great feat in this country, and even The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah congratulated Pandelela for the success.
His Majesty in a statement which was posted on Istana Negara Instagram on May 6 said Pandelela’s success marked a new history for the national diving sport and making Malaysia famous on the world stage.
Al-Sultan Abdullah also said the outstanding achievement by the Sarawak-born national diver once again proved that Malaysia was capable of producing athletes and individuals of quality, caliber and international standard.
He also expressed the hope that Pandelela’s success and spirit would be a source of inspiration to all Malaysians, especially athletes, to work hard and strive to achieve success in their respective fields.
Up next for Pandelela and her national team maters will be the Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled for July 23 to August 8.
At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Pandelela won a bronze medal in the women’s individual 10-metre platform.
She also won the silver medal in the 10-metre synchronised platform with Cheong Jun Heong.