KUALA LUMPUR: Kimberly Bong is still on the comeback trail after being down with high fever recently but that did not stop her from bagging the women's 3m springboard individual gold medal at the Malaysia Open Diving Championships today.
Kimberly made a slow start to the final, scoring a paltry 43.20 for her first dive before banking 54.00, 58.80, 63.00 and 50.40 to take the win on a combined 269.40 at the National Aquatics Complex in Bukit Jalil.
Singapore's Clara Liaw settled for silver on 216.80 and Hong Kong's Chan Tz Ming (213.10) completed the podium.
Kimberly, 21, admitted that it was not her best performance but was nevertheless pleased to contribute a gold medal to Malaysia.
"I was a little bit disappointed with my first dive. That shouldn't have happened," she said.
"But overall, I don't think it (overall performance) was too bad.
"I was really sick after coming back from the Hangzhou Asian Games last month and still have mild flu.
"I had lost a lot of strength since then and it has affected me. My back was quite stiff today (yesterday).
"This is my last competition for the year, the goal after this is to rebuild my strength."
The Sarawakian's next major assignment will be the Doha World Championships in February. She will be competing in the 1m springboard individual event, which is not part of the Olympic programme.
Earlier today, Bertrand Rhodict Lises-Enrique Maccartney Harold claimed gold in the men's 10m platform synchronised after scoring 364.14 in the final.
Indonesia's Adityo Restu Putra-Andriyan (305.40) settled for silver and Uzbekistan's Vyacheslav Kachanov-Igor Myalin (274.74) took the bronze.
The men's 3m synchronised final witnessed Nurqayyum Nazmi Nazim-Yong Rui Jie, both 17, bagging the bronze after scoring 320.67.
Indonesia's Adityo-Tri Anggoro Priambodo (328.62) took the silver and Kachanov-Myalin clinched the gold on 335.94.
The 10m platform synchronised mixed pair final featured only two pairs and it was no surprise to see national divers Jellson Jabillin-Nur Elisha Rania Muhammad Abrar Raj claiming the win on 266.16.
Sarawak pair Jared Aiden Harold-Nurul Farisya Affendi scored 197.28.
