KUALA LUMPUR: National diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises (pix) is sacrificing two World Cup Diving 2024 competitions to concentrate on increasing the level of difficulty for his dives in the Paris Olympic Games in July.
Bertrand, the country’s sole Olympics qualifier in diving, said he will be skipping the next two World Cup stops, in Berlin on March 21-24 and the super final in Xi’an on April 19-21.
Malaysia Swimming Federation diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas has decided to increase the level of difficulty in his dives from 3.0 to 3.7 by introducing the routine pike.
“I will not be going to two World Cup events for fear of not having enough time to increase the level of difficulty for my dives. The 3.0 to 3.7 move involves switching from the back 3 1/2 routine to pike and I just started learning on my return to Malaysia last Wednesday,” he told Bernama.
Bertrand, 19, had finished 10th out of 11 divers in the men’s 10-metre platform final with 389.85 points at the World Cup Diving 2024 in Montreal on March 2.
China’s Yao Hang won the event by amassing 533 points, followed by Mexico’s Randal Willards Valdez’s in second place (530.90 points) and China’s Lian Junjie in third position (514.65 points).
Bertrand admitted that he was disappointed with his performance in Montreal.
“That was the first time I dipped below 400 (points) so I’m not satisfied. But the outing in Canada was a good experience because all the finalists were really good as some are former Olympics (champs),” he said.
Meanwhile, Bryan, a former national diver, said he was still waiting for a positive reply from several countries which Bertrand had applied to train with to prepare for the Olympics.
“However, he needs to fully recover from his recurring wrist injury before going for the overseas stint next month. The National Sports Institute says he will take a few weeks to recover,” he said.
Asked whether Bertrand could adapt to the higher routine, Bryan said it would take time but is confident that the Sarawak-born athlete could do it.
“It (changing routine) is a process and will take time. He risks injuring himself in another area if we rush him into it,” he said.
The Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to Aug 11. – Bernama
