BANGI, June 14 — National diver, Hanis Nazirul Jaya Surya, has a yen for bringing home a medal in his second Commonwealth Games appearance, this time in Birmingham, England, next month.

The 20-year-old who combined with Jellson Jabilin in the men’s synchronised 10-metre (m) platform, returned empty-handed after they finished fourth in the last edition in Gold Coast, Australia.

As such, Hanis Nazirul said they would heavily rely on their new dive (back three and half somersaults) which has 3.3 dive difficulty, to steal the hearts of the judges in Birmingham and thus secure at least a bronze in the event to be held at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

"This will be our second time to use this kind of dive after the Hanoi SEA Games last month. Despite winning gold, we still need to improve.

"It’s tough to perform this dive as it has seldom been done. This is one of the scary dives as a wrong landing can injure you but insyaAllah (God willing), if the preparation goes well, it will be easy,” he told reporters when met after the Hanoi SEA Games athletes appreciation event organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), here, today.

The Modern Languages and Communication third-year student at UPM also hopes to get into the top 20 in their upcoming event at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from June 18 to July 3.

Hanis Nazirul said the reward he received from UPM would motivate him to do much better in tournaments or multi-sports games.

Meanwhile, Jellson said the England and Australia divers would be their biggest challengers in the next Commonwealth Games.

"I think the Commonwealth Games this time will also be tough as the other athletes are also training hard, but we have been learning a new dive and will give a good fight,” said the Design and Architecture first-year student.

UPM vice-chancellor, Prof Datuk Mohd Roslan Sulaiman said the event held today was to specially show appreciation for the contributions of 36 athletes from the university in bringing glory to the country and UPM at the Hanoi SEA Games recently.

"These students contributed seven gold medals, four silver and nine bronze, which is a good achievement,” he added.

The athletes who won gold were each given an incentive of RM700, RM500 for silver and RM300 for bronze. — Bernama