Victorious divers Pandelela, Jun Hoong get pension for life

Divers Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong will share the RM600,000 cash incentive and a monthly pension of RM3,000 following their silver medal feat at the Rio Olympic Games here.

Under the National Sports Council incentive scheme for Olympics, a gold medal winner received RM1 million and a monthly pension of RM5,000; a silver medallist, RM600,000 plus a RM3,000 pension and a bronze winner , RM100,000 plus a RM2,000 pension.

Pandelela and Jun Hoong won the silver medal in the women's synchronised 10m platform after collecting 344.34 points. China won the gold and Canada, the bronze.

Pandelela became the first Malaysian woman to win a medal at the Olympics when she won the bronze in the 10m individual platform at the 2012 London Olympics.

NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said Pandelela and Jun Hoong would equally share the RM600,000 incentive and the pension, which starts immediately.

Asked if double medallist Pandelela would receive two pensions, he said she would only receive the higher of the two.

Besides Pandelela, Datuk Lee Chong Wei is also a double silver medallist in the back-to-back Olympics in 2008 Beijing and London.