KUALA LUMPUR: Young diver Elvis Priestly Clement overcame a shaky start to clinch a decent top-five finish in the boys' 10 metre platform individual event at the World Junior Diving Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday (Nov 30).
Elvis' dives scored 63.00, 67.20, 52.80, 73.60 and 78.40 for a 517.30 total in the decider.
Italy's Simone Conte (547.65) won gold while Ukraine's Danylo Avanesov (531.70) and the American Joshua Hedberg (528.70) claimed silver and bronze respectively.
Elvis had earlier raised hopes that he could potentially secure another medal for Malaysia at the meet after qualifying for the final in third place on 510.15.
On Tuesday (Nov 26), Nurqayyum Nazmi Nazim won bronze in the 3m springboard. It was Malaysia's first medal at the meet in 18 years.
Malaysia Aquatics diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas praised Elvis' fighting spirit in the final.
"In the preliminary round he performed really well in the first four compulsory dives. His last five dives were also quite good," said Bryan when contacted today.
"In the final he didn't have a good start, but I saw his spirit, confidence and effort to keep going. A top-five finish is satisfactory."
Malaysian divers will compete in another two events at the world meet which concludes today.
Lutfir Rahman Razak will compete in the preliminary round of the boys' 1m springboard (14-15) event, while Nurul Farisya Alia Affendi will compete in the girls (14-15) 10m platform later today.