He seizes on Qin's error to grab springboard gold

Shanghai: China's He Chong won his second successive world three-metres springboard gold medal yesterday, continuing the home nation's domination of the diving competition at the outdoor pool of the Oriental Sports Centre.

He, who is also the Beijing Olympic champion, had been locked in a tight tussle with compatriot Qin Kai until the penultimate round when Qin's forward four and half somersault attempt went badly awry.

The 25-year-old Qin was off balance from take off and became horribly off centre throughout his somersaults, barely pulling out of the final somersault to splash into the pool.

A distraught Qin, who had won the three metres springboard synchro gold with Luo Yutong earlier in the competition, was awarded just 32.30 points for the dive and he crashed from duelling for the gold down to fifth place.

"I feel really sad, because I have trained very hard over the years. Maybe it is a precious experience for me," Qin told reporters.

"I wiped the water off the board but it was still slippery. That's why I missed. But I don't feel regretful, maybe its just not the right time for me to win."

The 24-year-old He posted an impressive 107.25 points with his final dive, a forward two-and-a-half somersault with three twists, to finish the competition on 554.30 points and become the first man to successfully defend the world title since Russia's Dmitri Sautin did it in 2001.

Russian duo Ilya Zakharov (508.95) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (493.55) filled out the podium while 2007 world champion Qin recovered to finish fourth on 481.90 points.