PANDELELA Rinong hopes her bronze medal feat at the London Olympics will help boost interest and development of diving in the country.
Olympics bronze medallist Pandelela rinong is mobbed by media on her arrival at KLIA yesterday. Pic by Goh Thean Howe
"We're far behind China not just in terms of the quality of our divers but the facilities we need to develop our divers are also way behind," said Pandelela, 19.
"That's why the number of our divers who can make the top level is nowhere near China. It's important for our young divers to be given properly organised training programmes and we need sufficient facilities to do that."
Pandelela and the national diving team spend most of their time in a training camp in Kunming, China and are rarely home.
After a two-week break, Pandelela will be back in training under her coach Yang Zhuliang of China. Preparations for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, will begin when she returns from her break.
"I can't promise anything at the moment because I have to survive another four years of (tough) training before I can make the next Olympics," said Pandelela.
"The coach has given me two weeks off and I am looking to spending some time on holiday with my family and friends.
"I hope to finish in the top-three again in Brazil and maybe target a silver medal there. With China being so dominant in the sport, winning gold will be tough but with some luck it might be possible."
No comments:
Post a Comment