KUALA LUMPUR: For a while, Ooi Tze Liang got Malaysian diving fans excited today.
It appeared he had a chance of becoming the first Malaysian to punch a ticket to next year's Paris Olympics.
He was putting up a fight in the men's 3m springboard individual semi-finals of the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
However the Penangite was let down by his final dive which yielded 67.50 points. He tumbled out of the top 12, which would have earned him a spot in the final and a ticket to Paris.
Tze Liang, who was ranked 11th after five dives, eventually finished with 404.40 points for 14th place.
Bryan Nickson Lomas was the last Malaysian to qualify for the 3m springboard final at the 2011 edition in Shanghai.
Earlier, former Commonwealth Games champion Tze Liang had qualified for the semi-finals after finishing 18th in the preliminary round with 383.60.
Nonetheless, Tze Liang still has another shot at qualifying for the Paris Olympic through next year's World Championships in Doha, Qatar next February. A total of 18 spots will be available in Doha for the individual events.
More importantly, Tze Liang showed that he is a good contender for the podium at the Asian Games in two months' time, being the third best diver from the continent in the 3m springboard individual.
Tokyo Olympics finalists Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Wendy Ng will be in action in the women's 3m springboard preliminary round tomorrow.
