He Chong put up a strong performance in Beijing on Thursday to win China's third gold medal from the men's three meters springboard event at the "Good Luck Beijing" 16th FINA Diving World Cup. 

Chinese diver He Chong (C) and Qin Kai pose on the awarding podium after winning the gold and silver respectively in men's three-meter springboard at the "Good Luck Beijing" 16th FINA Diving World Cup in Beijing, capital of China, February 21, 2008.

He, 22, currently world No. 2, held his consistency well all along to win with 530.30 points.

"Winning the World Cup is very important for me," said He, winner of the event at the 2007 world series in Nanjing, east China. "You know that my teammates in the national team are all world champions, except me."

He, who is famous for his performances with high degree of difficulty, failed to perform normally in the final in last year's Melbourne world championships, finishing a distant sixth.

"I am satisfied with my performance today," He said. "I will keep improving my techniques, but the degree of difficulty may not be increased, because there is not enough time to get used to the new."

His teammate Qin Kai, the reigning world champion, took the silver at 515.30, 0.30 points more than the bronze medalist Yahel Castillo of Mexico.

"I was nervous so I didn't perform well in the beginning," said Qin, who just won the opening gold along with partner Wang Feng in the men's three-meter springboard synchronized event on Tuesday. "Fortunately, I managed to recover and dive better."

"Though I didn't win, I have learned how to adjust myself after falling behind in the initial rounds," Qin added.

Alexandre Despatie from Canada, runner-up of the event in Melbourne, only managed the fifth.

The Canadian "Golden Boy" Despatie, dual gold medalist at the 2005 Montreal world championships, overcame a frustrating start to trail He after the third dive, but he didn't perform well in the last two dives and fell to the fifth.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2008)