KUALA LUMPUR: The fitness of diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri holds the key to Malaysia's hopes of earning Paris Olympic tickets at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha on Feb 2-18.
Malaysia have sealed only one Olympic ticket through Bertrand Rhodict Lises, who qualified for the men's 10m individual platform through last year's World Championships in Fukuoka.
The best bet of winning an Olympic medal in Paris will come from the women's synchro events, and the Pandelela Rinong-led team must secure spots in Doha.
However, qualifying for the synchro events will depend on Dhabitah's fitness after a wrist injury scare.
MS confirmed she will pair up with Pandelela in the platform and Wendy Ng in the 3m springboard synchro events.
She will also compete for an Olympic spot in the individual springboard.
The top 12 divers in the individual events and the top four pairs in the synchro events in Doha will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
However, with many having qualified through last year's world championships, the available slots will go to the best-ranked divers and pairs in Doha.
Malaysia Swimming (MAS) is monitoring Dhabitah's progress in training as they do not want her to aggravate her wrist.
MAS diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas said the team are hoping to field Dhabitah in three events at the world meet but is wary of placing too much training workload on the 24-year-old.
The injury forced Dhabitah to withdraw from the platform synchro (with Pandelela) at last year's world championships and also limited her training in the lead-up to the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Dhabitah and the rest of the national elite squad are undergoing a training camp in China. Bryan will join them later this week.
"She said her wrist is not giving her any problems now. The National Sports Institute (NSI) has also given the green light to start platform training," said Bryan yesterday.
"We, however, are monitoring her condition closely as we don't want any issues to recur.
"We have discussed this with her, and she feels that she is prepared.
"Training for the platform event, where the impact is higher, can put more strain on her wrist, so we have to control the intensity."
MAS is expected to send between 10 and 12 divers to Doha for the world meet.