Zhia Yi out for podium finish at 2016 Asian Swimming Championships

National diver Loh Zhia Yi hopes to be on the podium of the 10th Asian Swimming Championships in her second appearance of the championships held in Japan come November.

The 21 year-old diver said she is determined to win a medal after coming home without any medal in her debut back in 2012 when Dubai hosted the championships.

"I'm hoping to get a medal in my second appearance and hopefully with the current performance, it will help me to do well in the meet," she told reporters here.

Earlier, she fended off a strong challenge from two national backup divers to win her second gold medal on the final day of diving competitions in the 18th SUKMA at the Sarawak Aquatic Centre.

Zhia Yi accumulated 265.10 points to take the gold ahead of Jasmine Lai Pui Yee of Perak (248.80 points) while Adeline Chin Wei Ling of Selangor settled for the bronze after amassing 203.85 points.

It was her ninth personal SUKMA gold, after securing five in the 2012 Pahang edition and two in Perlis, two years ago.

She also won the women's 10m individual platform gold on Monday.

"Today's win was not easy as Lai and Chin also gave me a tough run considering both are in the national team," she said.

On another note, she expressed confidence that the country will have a strong pool of talented divers with the emergence of youngsters such as her teammate Megan Elizabeth Teoh, 15 and Selangor's Kimberly Bong Qian Ping, 14 in the current SUKMA.

"I hope both will continue to train hard and improve on their degree of difficulty in diving. For me, Bong could be a good replacement for Olympic-bound diver, Pandelela Rinong since she has a good entry technique," said Zhia Yi.