Her teammate Cheong Jun Hoong, however, can kiss her medal hopes goodbye.

While Pandelela just managed to sneak into the semifinals as the 18th – and final – qualifier, Jun Hoong’s Tokyo mission ended in dismal fashion as she came in 26th out of 30 divers at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre here.

Pandelela accumulated 284.90 points from five dives while Jun Hoong managed 251.80 points.

The 28-year-old Pandelela, who won gold at the 2021 Diving World Cup at the same venue in May, enjoyed a good start with 72.0 points to be ranked fourth.

However, her performance took a dive in the next three rounds as her scores went down to 60.90 in the second round, 52.80 in the third and a paltry 28.80 in the fourth.

Luckily for her, she got back into her groove to score 70.40 points in her fifth and final dive to finish among the top 18 divers.

As for 2017 world champion Jun Hoong, she paid the price for two poor opening dives, with the 31-year-old recording scores of 36.00 and 34.80 respectively, thus ending her medal hopes at her third Olympics since the 2012 London edition.

Although she bounced back with scores of 57.60 (third dive), 65.80 (fourth dive) and 57.60 (fifth dive), it was too little too late for her as she missed out on the top 18 spot.

As expected, China’s Chen Yuxi (390.70 points) and Quan Hongchan (364.45) dominated to claim the top two spots while American Delaney Schnell (360.75) finished third.

The top 18 divers will compete in the semifinals at 9am tomorrow, where the top 12 will then qualify for the final on the same day at 2pm.

In the women’s 10m platform synchro event on July 27, Pandelela and Leong Mun Yee came in last out of eight duos after scoring 277.98 points.

Pandelela is the first Malaysian woman to win an Olympic medal when she bagged the women’s 10m platform bronze at the 2012 London Games, before clinching the women’s 10m platform synchro silver with Jun Hoong in Rio four years later.