Cheers for Dhabitah, tears for Yan Yee in diving

TOKYO: It was a day of high and low for Malaysian divers at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre here today, with Nur Dhabitah Sabri advancing to the semi-finals and Ng Yan Yee missing the cut in the women's 3m springboard event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Nur Dhabitah, 22, started well before fading away, but still managed to stay on course in the preliminary round to finish 10th with 291.60 points and be placed among the top-18 for the semi-finals.

This is her second Olympic outing, having finished fifth in the 3m springboard synchronised event with Cheong Jun Hoong at the 2016 Rio Games.

Meanwhile, Yan Yee, who failed to recover from a dismal start in her third Olympic outing, failed to make the semi-finals after finishing 20th with 251.95 points.

However, Yan Yee, who competed in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio editions, is the second reserve for the semi-finals.

China's divers again showed their prowess as defending champion Shi Tingmao came out tops with 350.45 points, followed by compatriot and former world champion Wang Han were (347.25 pts) and Canadian Jennifer Abel (332.40 pts).

Tingmao and Wang Han will head into the semi-finals on a high after winning the women's 3m springboard synchronised gold last Sunday (July 25).

Only the top 18 out of the 27 divers in the preliminary round qualified for the semi-finals scheduled for 3pm local time (2pm Malaysian time) Saturday (July 31).

The top 12 will then move into the final Sunday (Aug 1).

-- BERNAMA