AS she enters her second year with the national team, diving sensation Nur Dhabitah Sabri is looking to kickstart the season in grand fashion at the Germany Grand Prix in Rostock this coming Feb 21-23.
Unlike last season where she had limited competitions due to age restriction, it is certainly going to be a year of revelation for the promising 14-year-old, as there will be more opportunities to shine this time around.
Apart from two major assignments – the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Incheon Asian Games – the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) have also lined up a number of competitions for the back-up divers in 2014.
Besides Rostock – which is the second leg of the eight-legged FINA GP – Dhabitah and co will also be tested at the Canada GP in Gatineau (May 1-4), Singapore (Oct 17-19) and Kuala Lumpur (Oct 24-26).
Dhabitah did impress last year, winning two gold medals at the Asian Diving Cup in Singapore and ended the year with a bang, clinching 10m platform synchro gold with Leong Mun Yee in her SEA Games debut in Myanmar.
The lass who is fondly known as Bitah, has also done well in her maiden appearance in a GP meet when she missed the semifinals by only two spots, finishing 14th at the US GP.
But the most promising aspect of Dhabitah’s is she has been performing a more complex diving routine with high degree of difficulty (DD) – even higher than Olympic bronze medallist Pandelela Rinong.
One of them is her ability to execute a 207C (Back 3 1/2 Somersault Tuck), carrying a 3.3 degree of difficulty (DD) – which is considerably high in women’s division.
Dhabitah, who is curently with the national team in Guangzhou, China for a one-month training stint, is on a mission to perfect the dive.
“The German GP later this month will be my second appearance at world level competition after the US GP, I’m really eager to know where I stand,” said Dhabitah from China.
“Since we arrived in China two weeks ago, the coaches have been helping me to master the dive. It is our main agenda because it can be a high scoring dive.
“It’s been a while since I last trained this routine as I was needed to partner Mun Yee for SEA Games.
“But the last two weeks have been good, I’ve been able to execute properly on trampoline. Hopefully it goes well when I try it out at the pool too.
“Nevertheless, I’m all ready for the Rostock assignment and I can’t wait to compete again.”
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