Dubai day 1: China starts with golden display

Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA,- The seemingly invincible Chinese diving team kicked off their FINA/Midea Diving World Series Dubai 2013 campaign this morning in their usual manner, taking the first two gold medals on offer in convincing fashion.

The first session on the competition program provided a breathtaking display of world class diving, much to the delight of several hundred schoolchildren who came to the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Sports Complex to see multiple world and Olympic champions in action.

The first event on the programme was the women’s 10m synchro platform final and the Chinese team of Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia were hot favourites. Even though they are a new pairing they took gold in the first round of the FINA/Midea Diving World Series in Beijing last weekend, establishing themselves as the team to beat. They did not disappoint, taking the lead with their first dive and never letting it slip, finishing with 353.04, their last two dives both scoring 83.52.

The pair have only been diving together for two months, and Chen Roulin later said: “We are feeling better together now, as we get to know each other better. We are learning to understand each other more”.

Their biggest threat was from Canada’s diminutive duo of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, who performed solidly, eventually finishing with the silver medal, with 331.44, 21.60 points behind the Chinese. The Canadians were very happy with their performance, Benfeito saying: “This was a stronger performance than in Beijing, there our dives were shakier individually and here we were much better synchronised”. “We had three months off after the Olympics so we’re happy with this”.

The pair, who took bronze in London, are aiming for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Filion said: “With a lot of hard work and training we can take the gold”.

After a slow start sitting in fifth place for the first two dives the Russian team of Yulia Koltunova and Natalia Goncharova put in three dives scoring in the 70s to finish with the bronze with 315.36.

Malaysia’s Pandelela Pamg Rinong and partner Mun Yee Leong finished in fourth with 307.26 after sitting in third for the first three rounds. Rebecca Gallantree and Jenny Cowen from Great Britain finished in fifth with 288.42, ahead of Mexico’s Alejandra Orozco and Carolina Mendoza who couldn’t match their fourth place performance in Beijing and finished sixth with 281.28.

The second event of the morning was the men’s 10m synchro platform and again the Chinese dominated from the outset. Lin Yue and Chen Aisen have only been diving together for one month and were not as happy with this performance as they were with their Beijing result. “We did better in Beijing, we had a few mistakes in synchro today and need to train together more” said Lin Yue. 

Their second dive (401B, Inward dive pike) scored the first tens of the competition from both of the execution judges. Their top scoring dive of the day was 99.90 for a 109C (Forward 4 1/2 tuck), which gave them an unassailable lead and saw them finish with 490.95, 46.83 points ahead of the Russian team of Victor Minibaev and Artem Chesakov.

While finishing with a higher total pointscore here, the Russians were happier with their performance in Beijing.

“This is a new partnership and we are still getting comfortable with each other” said Minibaev, “we still need to put more work in”.

The Cuban pair of Jose Antonio Guerra and Jeinkler Aguirre finished with 417.39, 20.22 points more than in Beijing, a result that pushed them into the bronze medal position ahead of Ivan Garcia and Adan Zuniga of Mexico, who finished with 407.16

“We are delighted to see these amazing divers competing again in Dubai” said Ahmed Al Falasi, President of the UAE Swimming Federation. “It is exciting to see world class diving again, and we look forward to enjoying the competition over the next two and a half days” he added. (fina)

Loncat Indah Try-out di Barcelona

JAKARTA – LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA - Pemusatan latihan nasional (pelatnas) loncat indah akan mengikuti tiga turnamen uji coba di luar negeri guna persiapan sebelum menghadapi SEA Games XXVII Myanmar, Desember.

"Yang paling utama memang untuk semua tim akan try out di Barcelona, di bulan Juli yaitu Kejuaraan Akuatik Dunia," kata pelatih nasional loncat indah Harly Ramayani di Jakarta, Rabu (27/2).

Uji coba lainnya adalah kejuaraan kelompok umur di Malaysia pada April dan kemudian uji coba di Asian Youth Games yang akan dilangsungkan pada 16-24 Agustus di Nanjing, China.

Menurut Harly, Indonesia sudah sewajarnya ambil bagian di Kejuaraan Akuatik Dunia mengingat saingan terdekat tim Merah Putih di Asia Tenggara, Malaysia sudah kerap ikut serta dalam turnamen yang digelar Federasi Renang Internasional (FINA) tersebut.

Ia juga mengatakan kejuaraan loncat indah di kawasan Asia frekuensinya masih cukup rendah, oleh karena itu ambil bagian di Kejuaraan Akuatik Dunia yang akan berlangsung pada 19 Juli-4 Agustus2013 tersebut menjadi salah satu prioritas dengan target menaikkan peringkat serta mengukur kekuatan sesama negara Asia Tenggara.

Atlet loncat indah Indonesia pada Kejuaraan Atletik Dunia 2011 di Shanghai ambil bagian di enam nomor yaitu papan satu meter individual putra, menara individual putra, papan tiga meter berpasangan putra, menara berpasangan putra, papan satu meter individual putri dan papan tiga meter individual putri.

Prestasi terbaik atlet Indonesia di Kejuaraan Atletik Dunia 2011 adalah menempati peringkat ke-17 di babak penyisihan nomor menara berpasangan putra melalui Muhammad Nasrullah dan Husaini Noor.

Sementara itu di babak penyisihan nomor papan tiga meter putra, pasangan Andriyan dan Luthfi Niko Abdillah hanya menduduki peringkat ke-18.

Kemudian di nomor menara individual putra, papan satu meter individual putri, papan satu meter individual putra dan papan tiga meter individual putri masing-masing menempati peringkat 30, 35, 38 serta 39.

Meski demikian, Harly menyebutkan setidaknya ada dua uji coba yang akan diikuti atlet pelatnas loncat indah di kawasan Asia walaupun hanya terbatas untuk para atlet junior.

DWS 2013, Beijing day 3: Chen (CHN) untouchable in 10m platform, China captures 8 golds on offer

Chen 10 m

Beijing, CHINA – LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA - Four-time Olympic champion Ruolin Chen won the women's 10m platform in convincing fashion, leading with more than 40 points ahead of her rivals, sealing China's complete golden sweep on day 3 of the FINA/Midea Diving World Series at Beijing's Water Cube on March 17, 2013.

Chen, who claimed the 10m platform title at both the Beijing and London Olympic Games, dominated the final to win the gold with 403.75 points. Canadian Meaghan Benfeito came second with 362.25 points while Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong Pamg took third with 337.75 points.

"I am satisfied with my performance today. It's my first major competition after the London Games and I wanted to do my best in each dive. I was not confident before the event because I did not train much these days," Chen said.

"I know it is hard to beat the Chinese divers, because they are very strong and their dives are beautiful. I tried my best today, I am happy with the silver," Benfeito said.

Chinese Yue Lin tasted his first individual victory at international level since 2008 as he and Aisen Chen finished 1-2 in the men's 10m platform.

Lin, 2008 Olympic champion in the synchro platform, scored 555.55 points after performing six stable dives to claim the title. Young teammate Chen earned more than 100 points for two of his dives, collecting an overall 551.55 points while Russian Victor Minibaev took the bronze medal with 499.35 points.

"I had not competed for both individual and synchro in a single meet for more than four years. There were some mistakes in my dives today and I was nervous in the final," said Lin.

"I still need to improve my high DD compared with my younger teammate Chen and other competitive rivals," he added. 

On competing at the Water Cube, Minibaev said: "The conditions here are very good. I like it very much!"

Russia's Artem Chesakov finished fourth while Mexico's Ivan Garcia injured his right ankle and withdrew from the final after his second dive. (fina)

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)

DGP 2013, Madrid day 3: Prokopchuk (UKR) prevents complete Chinese sweep

LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA, China confirmed their dominance by winning the two men's synchronised events, the 3m springboard and platform, on the final day of the FINA Diving Grand Prix 2013 in Madrid. Chao He / Shixin Li were the best in the springboard, finishing with 419.79 points. Ukrainian pair Oleksandr Gorshkovozov / Oleg Kolodiy took silver with 372.33 points while Mexicans Jonathan Ruvalcaba / Carlos Moreno completed the podium with 371.01 points.

Ukraine's Iulia Prokopchuk captured the gold in the women's 10m platform with 342.80 points, besting by a few points China's Yajie Si (339.70). Russian Ekaterina Petukhova claimed the bronze with 300.65 points.

In the last final of the meet, China's Siyi Xie / Jian Yang won the platform synchro event with 458.64 points, beating Cuba's Jose Guerra / Jeinkler Aguirre (388.80) and Jahir Ocampo / Diego Balleza Isaias from Mexico (350.91).

DGP 2013, Madrid day 2: China's supremacy continues

LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA, Day 2 of the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Madrid, Spain, was highlighted by two Chinese victories. In the men's 3m springboard, Chao He and Shixin Li finished 1-2 with 501.60 and 435.60 points, respectively. Ukraine's Oleksandr Gorshkovozov (UKR) took third spot with 406.05 points.

In the women's springboard synchro, Chinese pair Jiao Liu and Qulin Zheng were the best with 297.90 points. Viktoriya Kesar/Anna Pysmenska from Ukraine picked up silver with 275.40 points while Russia's Ekaterina Ukolova and Elena Chernykh claimed the bronze with 274.11 points.

DGP 2013, Madrid day 1: China sets the tone at opening meet

LONCAT INDAH INDONESIA, China clearly dominated the operations on the opening night at the first stop of FINA Diving Grand Prix 2013 in Madrid, Spain, by capturing three golds at the Swimming Center M-86. In the women's field, China's Han Wang (345.55) beat Dolores Hernandez from Mexico (second with 329.10 points) and team mate Jiao Liu (third, 311.05) in the 3m springboard.

In the men's 10m platform, Chinese Siyi Xie (518.75) bested compatriot Jian Yang (second with 514.10 points) and Jesper Tolvers from Sweden (third, 358.75).

In the women's platform synchro, Chinese duo Shegping Wu / Jie Lian finished on top with 301.62 points. Australian pair Emily Boyd / Lara Tarvit took second spot (296.52) while Mexicans Karla Rivas / Monica Marquez claimed the bronze (293.97).