KUALA LUMPUR: As expected, national diver Ooi Tze Liang clinched the men’s 3m springboard individual gold medal at the Malaysia round of the Diving Grand Prix at the National Aquatics Centre in Bukit Jalil here.
Without any big names to contend with, Tze Liang eased to victory with a final score of 428.45 points.
Croatian Hrvoje Brezovac finished second 78.15 adrift while Singaporean Timothy Lee secured bronze on 320.85.
"It doesn't matter if there are many competitors or not, whether it is easy or not or whether I have good or bad luck, I still need to give it my best on every dive," said Tze Liang.
"I am happy with my performance today although there were not many divers."
Tze Liang added that he had struggled slightly in the morning preliminaries but found his rhythm in the final.
"I wanted to join this tournament to get that competition feel... every tournament is important to gain more experience."
The 24-year-old said he is preparing to face a challenging Olympic qualification year next season with Tokyo 2020 looming on the horizon.
Loh Zhiayi-Ong Ker Ying also clinched gold in the women’s 3m springboard synchronised event despite earning a poor score of 250.56 points.
Backup diver Kimberly Bong won the bronze in the women's 10m platform individual on 264.45. China's Xu Yijin (336.10) emerged the victor while Australian Laura Hingston took silver with 289.75.
Bertrand Rhodict Lises-Enrique Harold finished third in the men's 10m platform synchronised after scoring 268.47. China’s Duan Yu-Wang Zewei (371.04) won the gold while Aussie duo Brodie Scapens-Sam Fricker (320.31) finished second.
