By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: Ipoh-born schoolgirls Jasmine Lai Pui Yee and Kam Ling Kar made a perfect debut together as Malaysia enjoyed a fine splash with three gold medals in the bag at the Asian Age-Group Aquatics Championships at Jakarta.
Jasmine combined well with Ling Kar to win the girls' 3m springboard synchro Open final with 263.61 points ahead of Vietnam (233.76) and Macau (225.15) pairings.
The triumph is a timely boost to the two 16-year-olds, who are set to represent Malaysia for the first time in the SEA Games in Indonesia next month.
Golden splash: Kam Ling Kar (bottom) and Jasmine Lai Pui Yee won the girls' 3m springboard synchro gold iat the Asian Age-Group Aquatics Championships in Jakarta Saturday.
Jasmine-Ling Kar have also won the same discipline at the Asia Pacific Rim Junior Invitational in Wellington recently and they showed with their latest triumph that they are ready to face their first test with the senior national squad.
Another SEA Games-bound diver Wendy Ng Yan Yee also triumphed for Malaysia in the women's 3m springboard Open final ahead of Macau's Choi Sue Yan.
The third gold medal was won by Chew Yi Wei in the boy's 1m springboard Group A (16-18) final.
Malaysia also earned two silver medals through Muhd Nazreen (boy's 1m springboard Group C (12-13) and Pardika Indoma (boy's 10m platform Open).
Wendy also earned another medal – a bronze in the girl's 1m springboard Open final.
The Asian meet is held every two years and Malaysia are only represented by the divers this time.
Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong was happy that the back-up divers manage to keep the flag flying high for Malaysia.
"China did not sent their divers this time because they were having their inter-city championships at the same time, so our main rivals were Japan and Indonesia.
"We did not sent our senior divers like Pandelela Rinong and Bryan Nickson although they are eligible as we wanted to give the back-up divers the chance to shine.
"The Asian meet was supposed to be held in Palembang as a test event ahead of the SEA Games.
"But the venue was still not ready, so they shifted it to Jakarta at the last moment," he said.
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