PHNOM PENH: National diver Muhammad Syafiq Puteh (pix) has dedicated his men’s 3-metre (m) springboard individual gold medal at the 2023 SEA Games here to his daughter, who will turn three on Friday (May 12).
The 28-year-old said that he could not celebrate Nuraisya Zulaikha’s second birthday last year as he was competing in the Hanoi edition of the biennial Games in Vietnam then.
“My daughter Nuraisya Zulaikha’s birthday is on May 12, so this win is for her,” he said.
The national diving squad will return home on Friday, a day after the curtain comes down on the aquatics competition at the Morodok Techo Aquatics Centre here.
Muhammad Syafiq also feels that the gold medal he won today is a sign of good fortune as his wife is due to deliver their second child in November.
In today’s action, national divers Muhammad Syafiq and Gabriel Gilbert Daim dominated the proceedings by completing a 1-2 finish after six dives.
Muhammad Syafiq accumulated 377.85 points to defend the gold he won in the previous edition in Hanoi while Gabriel also did well to retain the silver medal with 365.25 points as Singapore’s Avvir Tham Pac Lun (360.40 points) took bronze.
Muhammad Syafiq said although he was happy to defend the gold he won in Hanoi, he was disappointed with his last dive.
“I wanted to get the best score with my last dive but it just didn’t work out. I will continue to work hard and take this as a lesson for future competitions,” he said.
Muhammad Syafiq’s gold is the 11th for the national contingent at the biennial Games here.
Yesterday, Malaysia began the diving competition in style when Kimberly Bong bagged gold in the women’s 3m springboard individual.
The national diving squad are targeting three gold medals from the four events contested at the May 5-17 Cambodia SEA Games.
For the record, the national divers made a clean sweep of all eight gold medals on offer, plus three silvers and a bronze, at the Hanoi SEA Games. -Bernama