By MARK REY MONTEJO NEW CLARK CITY – Fil-Australian Xantheia Pennissi hopes to deliver this time as she joins the elite cast who will compete in the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in El Nido, Palawan next week. Pennissi, whose mother is from Tarlac, takes part in the annual tournament as a wildcard – along with three other hopefuls – and eight top-ranked female divers including 8-time champion and nine-peat seeking Rhiannan Iffland of Australia. The 26-year-old Pennissi is hoping to improve on her finish after finishing seventh 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 myself to better my performance [and] hopefully] I can deliver here,” she added. Pennissi and coach Marie DeCastro Dimanche hope that the staging of world cliff diving meet here would lure kids to take the sport and embrace it as it own. “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 aspiring 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.