KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — National diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises believes that he has found the perfect partner in Enrique Maccartney Harold to hunt for a spot in the men’s 10 metres (m) synchronised platform at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The 18-year-old diver described his relationship with Enrique as ‘brother from another mother’, having known each other for the past few years while in the Sarawak diving squad.
Bertrand, who has qualified for Paris 2024 in the men’s 10m platform event, said their level of chemistry has improved after going through various tournaments and challenges together as partners in the national squad for four years.
“We’ve been doing synchronised for maybe seven or eight years now, so our chemistry is there,” said Bertrand, who teamed up again with Enrique this year.
“If you don’t know that person very well, it’s very hard to settle things but as I have known my partner since small, it’s very easy. We will improve and hopefully, at Doha we will qualify for the Olympics,” he told Bernama at the Malaysia Open Diving Championship 2023 at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil here today.
Bertrand said they still have a chance to qualify for the prestigious Games if they can perform at their best at the World Aquatic Championships in Doha, Qatar in February next year.
“The opportunity for us to qualify is not low, it’s average. We just have to do well in Doha and hopefully, we can qualify for the Olympics,” said Bertrand, who won bronze in the men’s 10m synchronised platform with Enrique at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last month.
At the tournament here, Bertrand-Enrique grabbed gold in the men’s 10m synchronised platform after dominating the final involving three pairs and collecting 364.14 points.
The silver was won by Adityo Restu Putra-Andriyan Andriyan of Indonesia with 305.40 points while bronze went to Uzbek pair Vyacheslav Kachanov-Igor Myalin with 274.74 points.
Bertrand said the national squad would undergo a two-month centralised training camp in Sichuan, China beginning end of this month to prepare for the world championships in Doha. — Bernama
