KUALA LUMPUR: This year's World Aquatic Championships have surely not gone according to plan for national diver Pandelela Rinong.
First the 30-year-old, together with partner Nur Dhabitah Sabri had to pull out from the women's 10m platform synchro event in Fukuoka due to injuries to the duo.
Then the Sarawakian suffered a new blow today as she missed out on the semi-finals of the women's 10m platform individual.
Pandelela only tallied a total of 256.40 points after five dives to be placed 24th out of 36 divers and missed out on the top 18 semi-finalists.
She was in position to at least reach the semi-finals after being placed ninth after three dives but her last two dives, which yielded just 22.40 and 48 points respectively, saw her tumble down the standings.
China's reigning Olympic and world champion Quan Hongchan had dominated the preliminaries and extended her domination during the semi-finals after scoring 451.40 points.
Compatriot Chan Yuxi finished second in the semi-finals with a total of 430.05 while Mexico's Gabriela Agundez Garcia rounded off the top three with 345.45 points.
Japan's Matsuri Arai also proved to be the next best non-China Asian diver as she finished seventh in the semi-finals with a total of 313.95.
Only the top 12 divers proceed to the final today..
For Pandelela, this is without doubt her worst result at the world meet especially since she has never failed to deliver a medal since the 2013 edition.
Her poor showing in Fukuoka, which also doubles up as an Olympic qualifying event, will add more pressure on her to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The top three finishers in Fukuoka will secure an early ticket to Paris.
Pandelela has two more opportunities to qualify for the Olympics - the next world meet that is scheduled to be held in Qatar in February or the Asian Diving Cup.
The Asian Cup, which is yet to be confirmed, however only offers only ticket to the event winner, and the dates and venue are yet to be confirmed.
Despite the setback, Pandelela has put a brave front and has promised to do better in the coming events.
"This is indeed my first time missing out on the semi-finals of a world championships," admitted Pandelela.
"I think what happened today was that I was lacking power for the last two dives.
"In the end I was just physically not ready for this world meet and my training and preparation weren't as great as I had been resting due to sickness and injury during the training camp in China.
"The positive side is that I managed to finish the competition despite the setback and I promise to prepare better for the next one."
There is certainly a lot of work cut out for Pandelela with the next major event being the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
