Hong Kong diver Ng Sui faces a stagnant future unless the sport receives more technical and financial support, according to his coach.
Tang Kei-shan, a part-time coach, yesterday watched Ng, 15, finish last out of eight divers in the men's one-metre springboard at the East Asian Games. His combined score of 276.60 over six dives was well behind that of gold medallist Huang Wen of China, who scored 360.81.
However, Ng's score was more of a reflection on the dives he chose rather than of any vast technical inferiority - a situation Tang said he is forced into because of a lack of support in Hong Kong.
Ng only twice performed dives of 2.6 on the degree of difficulty scale. The other four were 2.2, 2.4, 2.3 and 2.4. His opponents regularly executed dives of 2.6 up to 3.1. Higher difficulty factors help divers gain bigger scores.
Said Tang: 'Ng practises harder dives in training, but the conditions in Hong Kong are not suitable for refining these dives.
'What he needs is more time to train and a qualified, full-time coach. These are not available in Hong Kong.