SEA Games: Nur Dhabitah not putting too much pressure on herself

HANOI: With the opportunity to contribute the first gold medal for Malaysia at the 31st SEA Games, elite female diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri, who begins her event at the My Dinh Aquatic Centre, here, tomorrow, is not putting too much pressure on herself.

She is set to compete in the women's individual 1 metre (m) springboard event along with compatriot Kimberly Bong Qian Ping.

Nur Dhabitah, who has also been chosen as the country's flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the biennial sports event on Thursday (May 12), said she was just looking forward to enjoying her dives and coming up with her best performance since last competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in August last year.

"I just want to focus on the moment (event), I don't want to focus on the gold or anything other than my performance," she said when met by Bernama recently.

Nur Dhabitah will also be competing in the women's synchronised 10m platform event with Malaysia's diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg.

Despite being an elite diver, the 2019 Asian Cup Diving Championship gold medalist, who has also won four gold medals during her participation in the SEA Games since 2013, admitted that she did feel nervous every time she competed, and did not underestimate the other divers at the competition.

"I treat all the competitions I participate in the same, it's a learning process on how I am to overcome that nervous feeling. While at the Olympics (Tokyo) Alhamdulillah, I was able to find a way to overcome it, so I hope at the SEA Games now I can do the same," she said.

Apart from Nur Dhabitah and Kimberly, Chew Yi Wei-Ooi Tze Liang are also scheduled to hunt for gold medal in the men's synchronised 3m springboard event at the same venue, tomorrow.

The national diving camp has lined up 16 athletes for the competition, and aims to sweep all the eight gold medals on offer to repeat the feat achieved during the 2019 edition in the Philippines.

The 31st SEA Games is scheduled to take place from May 12 to 23, with several events including football and diving beginning earlier.

The diving events will take place from May 8-11, with two gold medals up for grabs on the first day.

-- BERNAMA