World’s best divers to return to Dubai
Nine London 2012 gold medallists due to compete in this month’s Fina event
Dubai: The best divers in the world will return to Dubai for the second leg of the Fina/Midea Diving World Series later this month.
The event will feature a star-studded line-up of world and Olympic Champions from 12 countries, including China, the UK, Australia, the USA and Russia, competing for honours at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex on March 21 to 23.
Competitors will include 10m platform women’s Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion Chen Ruolin, as well as last year’s Olympic silver and bronze medallists in the same event — Brittany Broben of Australia and Pandela Rinong Pamg of Malaysia. Also competing will be one of only two divers who were able to break the Chinese deadlock on gold at the Olympics, Ilya Zakharov of Russia, who took out the 3m springboard title.
Spectators at the same event here last year witnessed top-class performances from the Chinese, American and British divers in particular as they battled it out for gold in each of the 12 finals. This year the competition promises to be even tougher, as nine of the 12 gold medallists from the London 2012 Olympics will compete in Dubai.
Dr Ahmad Saad Al Sharif, General Secretary of the Dubai Sports Council and Head of the Organising Committee, said: “We are delighted to again be staging the FINA/Midea Diving World Series here in Dubai. Over the past few years Dubai has established itself as an ideal destination for world-class aquatic events and we are very happy to be welcoming so many superb athletes back to the state-of-the-art swimming facility at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex. It is the perfect venue for such a prestigious event.”
Ahmad Al Falasi, President of the UAE Swimming Federation, added: “We are pleased to again be welcoming the world’s best divers to Dubai and we expect to see a full house on all days to witness the world’s best in action.
“The standard of diving is world-class and the crowd will be treated to some amazing displays of talent and skill.”
The FINA/Midea Diving World Series event consists of eight legs and kicks off in Beijing on March 15, before travelling to Dubai, Edinburgh, Moscow, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Divers compete for prize money and points at each of the eight events and will no doubt use the series as a vital part of their preparations for this year’s World Championships in Barcelona in July.
There will be two sessions on each day, at 10am and 5pm, with tickets for the three-day event priced at Dh40. Tickets will be available on the door at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex on the Dubai Bypass Road.
