KUALA LUMPUR: Syafiq Puteh looks certain to make his Commonwealth Games debut next year following a great start for Malaysia in the Australian Diving Grand Prix in Gold Coast on Thursday.
Syafiq, 21, did better than his more illustrious teammate Ahmad Amsyar Azman by qualifying for the 3m springboard individual final at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
Syafiq garnered 363.10 points to grab the last spot from the second semi-final group behind Canadian’s Peter Mai (375.00) and China's Cao Yuan (412.80).
China’s reigning world champion Xie Siyi won the first semi-final group with 486.15 points ahead of last year’s World Cup silver medallist Yona Knight Wisdom of Jamaica (412.20).
World championships silver medallist Patrick Hausding of Germany amassed 403.20 points to edge Sho Sakai of Japan (361.35) to the last semi-final ticket from his group.
Amsyar finished sixth in the first semi-final group on 291.35 points and missed out on a place in the top-six final.
The 3m springboard individual final is on Saturday.
Earlier, Syafiq, who partnered Jasmine Lai for the mixed 3m springboard synchro title at the KL Sea Games in August, did well to take third position with a 380.95 total while Amsyar was 10th (352.65) in the preliminary round.
National coach Yang Zhuliang was happy with Syafiq for passing the test with flying colours at the same outdoor venue that will host the diving competition for the Commonwealth Games next year.
"I brought my full team for the Australian GP with the exceptions of Wendy Ng and Traisy Vivian Tukiet as I want them to get a feel of the conditions here ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
"Syafiq performed very well today. I am very happy that he made the final as the 3m springboard competition here is as tough as the World Championships.
"Syafiq has turned into a promising diver and I hope he can keep it up.
"He is ranked third among the Commonwealth countries and if he keeps it up, he can get a medal," said Zhuliang.
For the Commonwealth Games, Zhuliang can include Syafiq alongside Ooi Tze Liang and Amsyar for the 3m springboard as each country can enter a maximum of three divers for the individual events.
Pandelela Rinong and Kimberly Bong are also through to Saturday's women's 10m platform individual final.
Pandelela and Kimberly finished second (295.20) and third (240.50) respectively in the second semi-final group won by Australian AnnaRose Keating (297.10).
Former Olympic silver medallist Brittany Brien of Australia (284.25), Celina Toth of Canada (267.45) and Christina Wassen of Germany (252.20) qualified from the first semi-final group.