KUALA LUMPUR – National diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri became the second Road to Gold (RTG) athlete to miss the 2024 Paris Olympics after finishing 24th in the preliminary round of the 3m individual springboard event at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar today.
In her five dives, she scored 58.50, 35.65, 60.00, 28.50, and 55.50, accumulating a total of 238.15 points, falling short by 7.95 points behind Maria Papworth Burrel from Spain, who secured 18th place.
The top 18 divers qualified for the semi finals scheduled for tomorrow.
Another Malaysian diver, Ng Yan Yee, finished in 38th place with a total score of 216.00.
Maddison Keeney from Australia, Chen Yiwen from China, and Sarah Bacon from the US are leading the field heading into the semifinals.
The 24-year-old Nur Dhabitah joins Datuk Pandelela Rinong in failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics despite being enrolled in the high-performance RTG programme.
This comes after flopping in the 10m synchronised platform event with Pandelela, and failing to make a splash with Yan Yee in the 3m synchronised springboard event.
Nur Dhabitah made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games, where she finished fifth in the 3m synchronised springboard event with Cheong Jun Hoong.
She came close to securing her first Olympic medal when she finished fourth in the 3m individual springboard event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Teenager Bertrand Rhodict Lises is currently the only Malaysian diver to qualify for the Paris Olympics, competing in the men’s 10m individual platform event.
He will partner with Enrique Harold in the final of the 10m synchronised event in Doha later tonight. – February 8, 2024