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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Fil-Australian diver joins elite cast in world cliff diving tourney

Fil-Australian diver joins elite cast in world cliff diving tourney

Published Apr 2, 2025 05:56 am

At A Glance

  • Filipino-Australian Xantheia Pennissi hopes to deliver this time as she joins an elite cast in the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in El Nido, Palawan next week.

NEW CLARK CITY – Filipino-Australian Xantheia Pennissi hopes to deliver this time as she joins an elite cast in the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in El Nido, Palawan next week.

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(Red Bull)

Pennissi, whose mother is from Tarlac, takes part in the annual tournament as one of the four wildcards and eight top-ranked female divers including 8-time champion and 9-peat seeking Rhiannan Iffland of Australia.

The 26-year-old Pennissi is hoping to improve her finish after exiting as seventh place in the 2019 edition at the same notable Palawan territory.

“It’s really special for me because I have my family over here to watch me compete, and it’s an extreme honor to represent Australia and the Philippines,” said the Sunnybank, Queensland native.

“Being here is different in a sense that it boosts me to better my performance [and] hopefully] I can deliver here,” she added.

Pennissi and coach Marie DeCastro Dimanche hope that the staging of the competition here will spark interest among children who dream of becoming world-class divers in the future.

“I’m sure the sport is growing and we always have each other's backs, supporting one another, and hoping to inspire more kids to try the sport,” Pennissi continued. “And someday one of them and I will have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics and other global tournaments.”

“It’s a big boost for the children, syempre seeing elite divers like them (Pennissi, Prygorov), diving with them is malaking inspirasyon na sa mga kabataang nandito,” Dimanche added.

Before plunging into action, Pennissi and Ukraine’s Oleksiy Prygorov visited the New Clark City Aquatic Center where they imparted their knowledge and skills to the Filipino divers.

“It’s my second time here. El Nido is such a beautiful place, I hope I do great there,” said the Ukrainian bet who once won a bronze medal in the 3-meter springboard event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Prygorov is also competing in the men’s side with 13 other top-notch divers who will try to dethrone reigning champion British Aidan Heslop.

The competition will have four legs with El Nido staging the first one from April 11 to 13; Polignano A Mare, Italy on June 28 to 29; Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sept. 5 to 6; and in Boston, USA on Sept. 19 to 20.

The male and female competitors will perform on a platform height of 27 and 21 meters, respectively.

Accumulated points from all the four tour stops will determine the champion in both categories.

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