Tze Liang (right) and Ahmad Amsyar with their medals in the Asian Diving Cup at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
KUALA LUMPUR: The grin on Ooi Tze Liang’s face said it all.
On Friday, Tze Liang became the third diver after Pandelela Rinong and Wendy Ng Yan Yee to qualify for next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
His Olympic dream came true when he won the men’s 3m springboard individual event at the Asian Diving Cup at National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
The 21-year-old from Penang put up a steady performance in the final to come out tops with 484.85 points.
Tze Liang posted 85.00, 75.60 and 81.60 for the last three dives to pave the way for a maiden Olympic appearance.
Ahmad Amsyar Azman posted an impressive 93.60 with his final attempt to secure silver for Malaysia with 471.90.
China’s hopes of making a clean sweep of all four titles at stake on the first day of competition were dashed after Peng Jiang Feng faltered on the final dive to settle for bronze with 388.10.
Jiang Feng was the leader in the morning preliminaries with 465.15 ahead of Amsyar (457.55) and Tze Liang (447.60).
The Asian Diving Cup is a continental qualifying meet with only the winners of the four individual events – men’s and women’s 3m
springboard and 10m platform – assured of a place in the Olympics.
A beaming Tze Liang was delighted to have achieved his goal after missing out in London four years ago.
“I was the only one from the national elite squad to miss at that time,” said Tze Liang.
“I was disappointed when I made some mistakes and missed out at the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan last month.
“I failed to reach the top-18 semis (he finished 27th) and I knew this was my best chance to qualify this year.
“Everything fell into place in the final today. My performance in the preliminaries was not that good but I was happy to perform to my level
best,” said Tze Liang, who took gold in the 3m springboard at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last year.
Coach Yang Zhuliang was happy Tze Liang joined Pandelela and Wendy, who booked their Olympic spots at the world meet in Kazan last month.
“Either Tze Liang or Amsyar had a chance to qualify today. The Chinese diver did not do well in the last two dives. He had high difficulties and he could not control his dives,” he said.
Malaysia also took silver in the 3m springboard mixed synchro through Muhd Syafiq Puteh-Wendy.
The pair scored 279.75 to finish behind China’s Liu Tian-Bo Wen Huang, who amassed 295.50.
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