China on track for clean sweep in diving
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail
China Daily, July 20, 2011
With the men's three-meter springboard synchronized gold, the sixth diving gold at the 14th FINA World Championships, powerhouse China are on track for a clean sweep in Shanghai.
The hosts nearly finished a clean sweep at the 2008 Beijing Games, however they lost the men's 10m platform to Aussie Matthew Mitcham. At the 2009 Rome worlds, China lost two more titles in the women's 1m springboard and 10m platform.
This time in Shanghai, with the clean victory of Qin Kai and Luo Yutong in the men's 3m springboard synchronized final, China have taken all the six titles in four days, including the other three synchronized events and the men's and women's 1m springboard.
Qin and Luo, winners of the Diving World Cup and the Asian Games last year, led all the way in the final and amassed 463.98 points to win the title, about 12 points over their closest rivals Russia's Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov, who posted 451.89. While Mexico's diving star Yahel Castillo and his partner Julian Sanchez brought home a bronze with 437.61.
"We felt a lot of pressure in our last dive, but it could be fine if we performed our normal level," said Qin, winner of the event with Wang Feng at the 2007 Melbourne worlds and 2008 Beijing Games. "Our opponents are all quite strong and have high difficulty degree, but we were still very confident."
It was Qin's third concecutive title in the event at worlds. "Every World Championships is not easy, but I feel happy to take part in a worlds," added Qin, 24.
There was a minor error in Luo's last dive. "I didn't control my dive well in the last round, but I am still happy to win the title," said Luo, 25, 1m springboard winner at 2007 worlds. "I will improve the quality and consistancy of my dives before raise the difficulty degree. We still need to improve some details."
It was the fourth consecutive victory in the event for the hosts at worlds. However, China had bitter memory in the same event at the Athens Olympics, when Peng Bo and Wang Kenan blundered in their final dive and were awarded zero point. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Qin and veteran Wang won the title back.
Qin paired up with Luo after Wang's retirement. The new pair had trained together just five days to win the World Cup in Germany last year.
The pair almost met no challenge in 2011 as they swept all the titles in the competitions they took part in, including the FINA Diving World Series at Moscow, Beijing and Sheffield and a Diving Grand Prix.
In the previous three days, the home crowd witnessed China continuing their supremacy in the synchronized events, as another three duos, He Zi and Wu Minxia, Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao, Huo Liang and Qiu Bo, all crushed rivals to end undisputed competition.
China also showed dominance in the men's and women's 1m springboard, which were considered as weaknesses for the hosts by team leader Zhou Jihong. Shi Tingmao claimed the women's 1m springborad gold earlier Tuesday, while Li Shixin won the men's title Monday.
The 19-year-old Shi Tingmao collected 318.65 points to help the host win back the women's 1m springboard title, which China lost to Russian diving star Yulia Pakhalina in the last worlds in Rome.
Her fellow Chinese Wang Han, first in the preliminary, came from behind to take the silver at 310.20.
Italian Tania Cagnotto, who only managed a 12th-finish in the preliminary, brought home a bronze at 295.45.
"It was not an easy win," said Shi, the Asian champion in the 3m springboard synchronized with Wang. "Actually I was a little nervous, but I managed to control myself. My aim was to perform to my normal level, and I did it today. My opponents also made some mistakes."
Shi, who is not a national team member yet, overcame the stresses in the final and performed consistently while her teammate Wang made errors in her second dive to finish fourth in the round.
"It's my honor to compete for my country," she said. "It's the most important gold in my diving career. I will train harder to earn more chances to compete for China."
"It's my first World Championships, so it's different from other competitions," said Shi, the winner of the 3m springboard at FINA Diving World Series in Rostock, Germany in May. "It was my honor to compete in the worlds, and I take it as an affirmation."
Wang, 20, the bronze medallist of the event at Rome worlds, gradually found her rhythm back and surpassed Russian Anastasia Pozdniakova and the bronze medallist in the fourth round.
"It's a pity that I failed to win the title," Wang said. "I made mistakes in my second dive, which I usually did well. I should have had more practice. The 1m event might be dropped from the world championships so I will try my best to enter the 3m event."
It was the second women's 1m springboard gold medal claimed by the host in the recent seven World Championships.
The Italian diver was happy with her bronze. "I am happy to win a medal," Cagnotto said. "I broke my wrist last month and have been back for just two weeks and an half. I even didn't know whether I can compete. So I am very satisfied with the bronze."
"The Chinese divers are consistent and they are the best," she added. "Although I trained very hard, it's still too difficult to beat them."
Though the situation seems optimistic for the hosts, it will be no easy to finish the clean sweep as the men's 10m platform has always been a weak point.
In the women's 10m platform, Olympic champion Chen Ruolin will also meet challenges from her old rival Paola Espinosa of Mexico. The "Diving princess" beat Chen to lift the title at the 2009 Rome worlds.
Wednesday will feature the women's 10m platform preliminary and semifinal.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)