Divers start arriving for second round in Dubai

Dubai: Some of the world’s best divers have already arrived in Dubai ahead of the second leg of the Fina/Midea Diving World Series 2013 to be held at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex this weekend (March 21-23).

The divers flew in from Beijing after competing in the opening round of the series held last weekend. After Dubai, the competition will head to Edinburgh, Moscow, and Guadalajara, Mexico, before finishing off in Mexico City on May 24-26.

China once again proved there is no one in sight to challenge them as its nine-member squad claimed all eight gold medals at Beijing’s Water Cube last weekend.

Despite the absence of some of their seasoned performers, China again demonstrated the incredible depth of talent led by multi Olympic and world champion Ruolin Chen winning the individual and synchro (with Huixia Liu) in the 10m platform.

In the 3m springboard individual men’s event, world champion He Chong teamed up with London 3m synchro gold medallist Qin Kai for the first time to win the 3m springboard synchro event ahead of Russia’s Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Qin went on to make it a golden double, taking the individual 3m gold ahead of team-mate He, with Zakharov in third.

“This is the second time we are hosting this event in Dubai and we are delighted to see such a strong line-up,” said Dr. Ahmad Sa’ad Al Sharif, General Secretary, Dubai Sports Council and Chairman of the Organising Committee.

“The quality of the competition is world class and we are hoping that sports fans in Dubai will come out in force to enjoy the spectacle,” added Ahmad Al Falasi, President, UAE Swimming Association.

In the women’s 10m platform synchro, world and Olympic champion Chen Roulin of China teamed up with Liu Huixia, also for the first time, to take the gold ahead of Olympic bronze medallists, Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Canada, while Russia’s Yulia Koltunova and Natalia Goncharova came third.

China’s He Zi took the gold in the women’s 3m springboard, leaving Canada’s Jennifer Abel in second and Italy’s Tania Cagnotto in third.

China’s world and Olympic champion Wu Minxia combined with her new partner Shi Tingmao to take gold, with Great Britain’s Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree taking silver and Ukraine’s Olena Fedoraova and Anna Pysmenska bronze in the 3m springboard synchro.

Meanwhile, the Jerobeam Salakytta Team of diving clowns will also returning to Dubai this weekend. The Finnish diving troupe will perform three times this weekend – at the opening ceremony on Thursday and at 4pm on Friday and Saturday.

The Fina/Midea Diving World Series event runs over three days, starting with the 10m platform synchro finals from 10-12 noon on Thursday, followed by the opening ceremony at 5pm and the 3m springboard synchro finals from 6pm.

Friday’s 3m individual springboard semi-final session runs from 10am to 12pm, with the finals from 5pm. The final day of competition on Saturday sees the 10m platform semi-finals from 10am, followed by the finals from 5pm.