Malaysian divers, Cheong Jun Hoong, 26 and Pandelela Rinong, 23 have won the country’s first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games – a silver medal in the women's 10m platform synchronised event yesterday.
The pair scored a total 344.34 points, slightly behind gold medalists Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia from China who scored 354.00 points, while Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion won the bronze medal with 336.18 points.
This is the first Olympic win for Cheong Jun Hoong and second win for Pandelela, who had won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics in the 10m platform diving event.
“We are so proud to have won Malaysia’s first medal at this Olympics,” said Pandelela as quoted by New Straits Times.
“There was pressure but we told ourselves to keep calm and focus on doing what we had been doing in training. I am so glad that our hard work has paid off,” she added.
The duo will be competing in the 10m platform individual event on 17 August 2016, while Cheong will be competing in the 3m springboard this Friday.
(Photo source: utusan.com.my)