Malaysia turns to divers Elvis Priestley Clement and Enrique Harold Maccartney for Asiad medal hopes after veterans retire.
THOUGH several Asian Games campaigns, Malaysia’s diving medal hopes have largely rested on household names such as Ooi Tze Liang, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Wendy Ng Yan Yee and diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong.
With Nur Dhabitah sidelined by health reasons and both Tze Liang and Wendy now retired, the responsibility of keeping Malaysia on the Asian Games podium has now fallen to the likes of Elvis Priestley Clement and Enrique Harold Maccartney at the 2026 edition to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from Sept 19-Oct 4.
While admitting that Malaysia will prioritise the synchronised events in its medal hunt, national diving technical director Yeoh Ken Nee said the country’s best bet to win a medal at the upcoming Asiad lies with Elvis and Enrique.
Ken Nee said Elvis-Enrique’s creditable performance during last year’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where they finished seventh in the men’s synchronised 10m platform final, proved that they are capable of challenging Asia’s elite in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“Based on their final rankings (at the World Aquatics Championships), they would have been in silver or bronze medal position among the Asian participants alone, so there is a strong chance of bringing home a medal,” he told Bernama recently.
Although Ken Nee believes there is reason for optimism, he cautioned that Elvis-Enrique will have to overcome stiff competition from the region’s traditional heavyweights such as China, South Korea and Japan.
Nevertheless, the six-time Asian Games medallist is encouraged by the steady progress shown by the pair, saying consistency will be key if they are to turn their promising performances into a podium finish at the Asian Games.
The former Olympian also said that the duo have been working on new dives to raise their degree of difficulty, although the coaching team will only decide whether to include them in competitions after assessing the situation on the day.
“So far, their progress has been so good. They’ve been learning new dives, but there’s always a risk involved, and it depends on the situation on the day of the competition
“If they’re able to put up a strong fight, we may use dives with a higher degree of difficulty. But if we decide to prioritise consistency, we might not use them,” he said.
