Three Sarawak athletes at the Olympic Games

SARAWAK State Sports Council (MSNS) hoped the three Sarawak born national divers bound for the London Olympic Games would shine there.
 “I wish them all the best and hope our Sarawak born national athletes will shine in London Olympic,” said Sarawak State Sport Council (MSNS) director Francis Nyurang Ding.
He said previously, their participation in the Olympic Games was only for exposure and experience but this time it is more challenging for them because the team is fighting for medals.
“Well, all the best to Sarawak’s stars. It certainly won’t be easy, but the fact that they will be representing Malaysia and competing with the world’s best is indeed a fantastic achievement in itself,” said Nyurang.
 “We are very-very proud of them. This is some of our achievements and this is one way we are contribution to our national sports,” he added.
Three Sarawakian divers have qualified to represent Malaysia at the London Olympics are Pandelela Rinong, Bryan Nickson Lomas and Traisy Vivien Tukiet.

PANDELELA (right) eyeing for medal.

Sarawak’s diving queen Pandelela has qualified for the women’s 10m platform individual and synchro as well as 3m springboard synchro, while Traisy has qualified for the women’s 10m platform and Bryan has qualified for the men’s 10m platform individual and 3m springboard individual as well as synchro.
At age 18, Traisy is apparently the youngest Malaysian athlete to qualify for the London Olympics after reaching the semi-finals of the women’s 10m platform individual at the Diving World Cup in London last February.
On Traisy’s achievement,  Nyurang said MSNS is proud of her as she was from MSNS development programme and later taken by the National Sport Council and train as the national athlete.
“When she was small we trained her and she became champion in the Malaysia Games and later the National Sport Council took her and trained her to become the national diver.
“We are proud of their achievement because they are the products of our development programme when they were young. Now the National Sports Council (NSC) has taken them and had achieved their highest.
“We are very proud of them because we produced them and develop them and become what they are today.
“I hope they will do their best and win medals for the nation but even if they don’t win medal we are proud of them because it is already an achievement for them to be at the Olympics Games,” he said.

BRYAN NICKSON: Third sppearance in the
Olympic Games 

Nyurang said it was not easy for athletes to reach that level (competing in the Olympic). Not any champion at their national level would get automatic place in the Olympic Games as there are certain benchmarks or qualifying mark that they need to achieve to be in the Olympic Games.
“I just wish them all the best and I believe all Sarawakians are behind them and are looking forward to see they win medals for the nation,” he added.

TRASY...first Olympic Games

Bryan made a memorable debut when he won a bronze together with naturalised Malaysian Huang Qiang in the 3m springboard synchro at the Diving World Cup in London last February.
Despite this being their first competition together, the duo won Malaysia’s first ever World Cup medal and earned a spot to compete in the Olympics.
They will actually be the first ever Malaysian pair to compete in a synchro event at the world’s premier sporting event.
According to the Diving World Rankings, Pandelela is ranked seventh in the world for the platform women, while Traisy is ranked 17th.
For the platform men, Bryan is ranked 14th in the world.
Bryan, who has been to the Olympics twice, said the London Games would be meaningful to him and his team-mates.