LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 21. SEVEN of the eight titles on offer ended in Chinese hands, whose dominance remained unchallenged at the first leg of the FINA/MIDEA Diving World Series, taking place in Moscow (RUS), from March 18-19, while Cuba's Jose A. Guerra/Jenkler Aguirre took advantage of China's absence in the men's 10m platform synchro to capture the only remaining gold.
China's diving stars Kai Qin and Qiu Bo were the obvious winners in the men's 3m springboard (and also in the synchro same event with partner Yutong Luo) and 10m platform respectively. Bo finished with an outstanding score of 607.60, 95.55 points ahead of silver-medallist Sascha Klein (GER), and receiving 18 perfect 10s and no mark below 9.0 from the judges for his overall performance.
In the women's field, the scenario was also spectacular, with Zi He and Ruolin Chen sweeping all four events; the first was untouchable in the 3m springboard individual and synchro (with Minxia Wu) while the second remains unbeaten in the 10m platform's both events (with Hao Wang). Svetlana Philippova/Nadezda Bazhina's silver in the 3m springboard synchro was the only medal for the host country among women while the 2009 revelation, Malaysia's Rinong Pandelela, finished with a silver medal in the 10m platform.
Next stop of this year's World Series is Beijing (CHN, March 25-26), then Sheffield (GBR, April 15-16) and finally Guanajuato (MEX, April 22-23).
MEDALLISTS IN MOSCOW
Men's 3m springboard: 1. Kai Qin (CHN) 506.20; 2. Evgeniy Kuznetsov (RUS) 505.35; 3. He Chong (CHN) 486.00
Men's 10m platform: 1. Bo Qiu (CHN) 607.60; 2. Sascha Klein (GER) 512.05; 3. Victor Minibaev (RUS) 502.80
Men's 3m springboard synchro: 1. Kai Qin/Yutong Luo (CHN) 452.40; 2. Stephan Feck/Patrick Hausding (GER) 430.47; 3. Iliya Kvasha/Oleksey Prygorov Oleksey (UKR) 428.64
Men's 10m platform synchro: 1. Jose A. Guerra/Jenkler Aguirre (CUB) 463.02; 2. Patrick Hausding/Sascha Klein (GER) 439.11; Victor Minibaev/Ilia Zakharov (RUS) 432.60
Women's 3m springboard: 1. Zi He (CHN) 371.40; 2. Tania Cagnotto (ITA) 350.00 3. Jennifer Abel (CAN) 324.65
Women's 10m platform: 1. Ruolin Chen (CHN) 409.95; 2. Rinong Pandelela (MAS) 369.45; 3. Alexandra Croak (AUS) 358.95
Women's 3m springboard synchro: 1. Zi He/Minxia Wu (CHN) 346.50; 2. Svetlana Philippova/Nadezda Bazhina (RUS) 317.10 3. Tania Cagnotto/Francesca Dallape (ITA) 311.10
Women's 10m platform synchro: 1. Ruolin Chen/Hao Wang (CHN) 366.42; 2. Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion (CAN) 327.87 3. Alexandra Croak/Melissa Wu (AUS) 307.92
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