KUALA LUMPUR: Wendy Ng-Nur Dhabitah Sabri have plenty to hope for going forward, even though they fell short in punching in an early Olympic ticket for Malaysia in the women's 3m springboard event.
At the World Aquatics Championships, Wendy-Dhabitah missed out on the Paris 2024 qualification after finishing eighth in the women's 3m springboard synchro final in Fukuoka on Monday.
They tallied 272.94 points, while China's reigning Olympic and world champions Chang Yani-Cheng Yiwen retained supremacy by taking gold with 341.94 points.
Britain's Scarlett Mew Jensen-Yasmin Harper took silver (296.58) ahead of Italy's Chiara Pellacani-Elena Bertocchi (285.99).
Only the top three secured the early Olympic tickets, but Wendy-Dhabitah should not be disheartened as they are still on track to achieve qualification at the next world meet in February with another four slots on offer.
The next four slots will exclude hosts France, China, Britain and Italy, who have now secured their tickets.
Additionally, Wendy-Dhabitah can also be encouraged by their performance heading into the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. The Malaysians still emerged as the second best Asian pair in the 3m springboard synchro event.
During the preliminaries, they were placed fifth with a score of 278.43.
South Korea's Park Har-Eum-Kim Suji were the third Asian pair to make the top-12 final. The Koreans were last with 194.04 points.
Meanwhile, it was a debut to forget for Phnom Penh Sea Games divers Enrique Maccartney Harold and Bertrand Rhodict at the world meet.
Enrique and Bertrand failed to earn points after botching the third dive in the men's 10m platform synchro final. The pair finished last in the 12-pair event with 310.44 points.
But the newly formed pairing deserved the credit for making it to the final after finishing seventh (376.80) in the preliminaries earlier.
China's Yang Hao-Lian Junjie took gold (477.75) ahead of Ukraine's Oleksii Sereda-Kirill Boliukh (439.32) and Mexicans Kevin Berlin Reyes-Randal Willars Valdez (434.16).
Pandelela Rinong and Nur Eilisha Rania will see action in the women's 10m platform individual preliminary on Tuesday.
KW: diving, World Aquatics Championships, Wendy Ng-Nur Dhabitah Sabri
