DWS 2013, Beijing: Chinese divers sweep synchro events on day 1

Beijing, CHINA – LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA - Spearheaded by Olympic champions Minxia Wu, Ruolin Chen, Kai Qin and Chong He and some fresh faces of the traditional diving powerhouse, China's divers swept the four synchronised diving events on day 1 of the FINA/Midea Diving World Series at Beijing's Water Cube on March 15, 2013.

With a record of six Olympic diving medals, Wu, who partnered with Olympic champion Zi He in synchro events, now combines with 1m springboard World champion Tingmao Shi. And it proved to be a winning combination for the Chinese as they claimed victory with a margin of 30.81 points ahead of silver medallists Alicia Blagg/Rebecca Gallantree of Britain, who totalled 305.79 points. The bronze went to Ukrainians Olena Fedorova/Anna Pysmenska with 305.79 points.

"Shi is a newcomer. We pair with each other because we have a similar rhythm. We train so hard and know each other better and better since we started training together for the synchro event. We hope we can be more synchronised in the future," Wu said.

Olympic champions Chong He and Kai Qin also partnered for the first time and took out the men's 3m springboard synchro with a total 468.90 points. The new pair met little challenge in the final as they pulled away the six other pairs competing after the first round and never looked back.

"This is our first international event as a pair, I'm happy to train together with Qin, who is my best friend," He said.

"Today's result is better than what we expected because we only trained with each other for one month."

Russians Evgeny Kuznetsov/Ilya Zakharov finished second with a margin of 38.58 behind the Chinese while Mexico's Yahel Castillo/Daniel Islas placed third with 396.15 points.

Olympic champion Ruolin Chen and new partner Huixia Liu were the best in the women's 10m platform synchro with 351.78 points.

"It's my first title at the Water Cube," said Liu. "My dives were not perfect but I'm so happy that we still won. I want to say thank you to my partner Chen."

Canadian duo Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion was second with 316.71 points. Yulia Koltunova/Natalia Goncharova from Russia settled for the bronze with 316.56 points.
 

In the men's 10m platform synchro, Chinese pair Yue Lin/Aisen Chen carried the lead of the four-pair field until a decisive win, totalling 493.47 and beating runner-ups Victor Minibaev/Artem Chesakov of Russia by 53.82 points. Mexicans Ivan Garcia/Adan Zuniga picked up the bronze with 403.47 points.

"We did what we expected," said 2008 Olympic champion in the event Lin. "There were only four pairs in the final today but I think we all performed well." (fina)