Dubai: China continued their medal haul on the second day of the Fina/NVC Diving World Series Dubai 2014 with both gold medals on offer at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Friday evening.
In the women’s three metre springboard event, world champion He Zi atoned for her loss to teammate Wang Han in the first round of the diving World Series in Beijing last week, turning the tables on Wang with an impressive display which earned her 382.10 points and the gold medal. He Zi took the lead from the first dive and held top spot throughout, to finish 19.65 points ahead of Wang.
It was a tight tussle until the end though, as Wang was only 6.15 points behind going into the last round. However, her last dive was not up to her usual standard and earned the lowest score of the round, handing the victory to He Zi.
Wang only just managed to hang on to the silver, finishing just 4.6 points ahead of Italy’s Tania Cagnotto who posted the equal best dive of the round with her last dive, earning 73.50 to finish with 357.85.
Cagnotto’s efforts were appreciated by the large Italian contingent in the crowd, and she was delighted to take the bronze.
“I’ve only just got back into competition so I’m really happy to be getting such good scores and winning medals already,” she said.
In the men’s three metre final, the experienced current world champion He Chong and rising star Cao Yuan fought out for the top honours. Cao pocketed two medals on first day, winning gold in the 10 metre platform synchro and silver in the three metre synchro, while the three metre is He Chong’s only event in Dubai.
Both started strongly, with equal scores in round one. He then took the lead, before Cao took over when he posted the top scoring dive of the night with a 98.90 for his 109C forward 4.5 somersaults tuck. He Chong wrested it back in round 5 with 96.90 for the same dive, then held on to take gold, with 535.80, just 12.85 points ahead of Cao.
He Chong was satisfied with his performance. “I trained hard over winter so I am happy with my performance today. Cao Yuan is an excellent diver and I am surprised he can do so well on both the platform and springboard, he is pushing me to work harder,” he said.
In the morning rounds on the final day, the hotly contested semi-finals of the men and women’s 10 metre platform gave a glimpse to things to come in the final.
In the women’s first semi-final the Olympic bronze medallist, Malaysia’s Pandelela Rinong Pamg took the lead from the outset, with Canada’s Roseline Filion hot on her heels. By round four Filion had taken over the top spot and she finished with 348.55, 11.30 points ahead of Pamg on 337.25.
The men’s first semi-final provided world-class entertainment for the appreciative crowd, with world champion Qiu Bo up against Olympic champion David Boudia. Boudia’s first dive scored 90.00 and put him in the lead, but Qiu took over from round 2 and showed exactly why he is world champion, scoring the second perfect ten of the competition from one of the judges and registering a massive 96.90 for his 307C reverse 3 1/2 somersault tuck. Qiu then scored another huge 96.90 for his 5156B front 2 1/2 with three twists to finish with 542.10, 48.70 points ahead of Boudia on 493.40.
