China win all 4 medals on opening day of Dubai diving championships

China win all four medals on opening day

Look best for maintaining domination on diving championships at Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex

Dubai: China looked destined for the all-too customary clean sweep of top positions when its divers picked up all four gold medals on offer on the opening day of the second round of the Fina/Midea Diving World Series 2013 at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex on Thursday.

After opening the day with both the medals contested during the morning session in the women’s and men’s 10m synchro platform, China added the next two gold medals in the women’s and men’s 3m synchro springboard to maintain its hold in this discipline.

It was multiple World and Olympic champion Chen Ruolin leading the Chinese march for gold medals when she combined with Huixia Lin to total 353.04 points to win the top spot in the women’s 10m synchro platform earlier in the morning session.

Canada’s Meaghan Benefeito and Roseline Filion took the silver with a total of 331.44 points while the Russian pairing of Yulia Koltunova and Natalia Goncharova won the bronze medal with a total of 315.36 points.

And then in the men’s 10m synchro platform, Yue Lin and Aisen Chen were close to perfection with a total of 490.95 points to hand China a second gold medal on the first day of this three-day competition.

Russia’s Victor Minibaev and Artem Chesakov came in a distant second with a total of 444.12 points while Cubans Jose Antonio Guerra and Jeinkler Aguirre did enough to move past Mexico’s Ivan N. Garcia and Adan Zuniga for the bronze medal.

Ahmad Al Falasi, President, UAE Swimming Association (UAESA) was joined by Georgia Fyrigou Consolo from the Fina Technical Committee at the formal opening of the championship later in the evening.

In the women’s 3m synchro springboard, it was once again over to the London Olympic silver medallists Zi He and Han Wang as the Chinese won gold with a tally of 331.20 points ahead of the Italian combination of Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape (297.90) and Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware from Canada (296.10).

The 3m synchro springboard for men was the last medal to be contested later in the evening and the combination of Kai Qin and Chong He completed a perfect day for China when they made it four out of four gold medals with a total of 480.33 points at the end of the mandatory six dives.

The Chinese pair was so much in command that by the halfway stage they had a comfortable lead of more than ten points from the Ukrainian pair of Illya Kvasha and Oleksiy Prygorov, who ultimately went on to take the silver leaving the bronze for a second time in as many weeks for the Mexican pair of Yahel H. Castillo and Daniel Islas, who nudged ahead of the American brothers Troy and Dwight Dumais in the last two dives.

In last weekend’s opening round held at Beijing’s Water Cube, Kai Qin and Chong He had paired to win with a total 468.90, besting 2012 Olympic champion Ilya Zakharov (absent in Dubai with a shoulder injury) and Evgeny Kuznetsov of Russia.

Action will continue at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex today with the 3m Springboard semi-finals for men and women held in the morning session and the two finals later in the evening.

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RESULTS:

Women’s 10m synchro platform: 1. Chen Roulin/Liu Huixia – China (353.04pts); 2. Meaghan Benefeito/Roseline Filion – Canada (331.44); 3. Yulia Koltunova/Natalia Goncharova – Russia (315.36).

Men’s 10m synchro platform: 1. Lin Yue/Aisen Chen – China (490.95pts); 2. Victor Minibaev/Artem Chesakov – Russia (444.12); 3. Jose Antonio Guerra/Jeinker Aguirre – Cuba (417.39).

Women’s 3m synchro springboard: 1. Zi He/Han Wang – China (331.20pts); 2. Tania Cagnotto/Francesca Dallape – Italy (297.90); 3. Jennifer Abel/Pamela Ware – Canada (296.10).

Men’s 3m synchro springboard: 1. Kai Qin/Chong He – China (480.33pts); 2. Illya Kvasha/Oleksiy Prygorov – Ukraine (443.37); 3. Yahel H. Castillo/Daniel Islas – Mexico (406.17).

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