China wins three gold on Day One at Diving World Series

MOSCOW - China won three gold medals and a silver one on the first day of the FINA Diving World Series 2013, which kicked off here Friday.

Si Yajie and Liu Huixia started the series of Chinese victories by winning the women's 10m synchro platform competition. After three rounds, the two Chinese young divers only ranked third. However, they put in an excellent performance later when finishing 407C and 5253B, which helped the Chinese pair pocket the gold.

The silver went to Malaysia and the Russian team settled for a bronze.

In the men's 10m synchro platform, Beijing Olympic champion Lin Yue and his new partner Chen Aisen claimed the title, capturing the second victory for the "Dream team."

There was no challenge to the skillful Chinese pair in the men' s 10m synchro platform as only three pairs participated in the game. They took lead from the first round. At last they collected 471.18 points to claim the gold medal, winning a 45 point margin to silver medalist of the host Russian team. Cuba achieved third.

Olympic champion Wu Minxia and her young teammate Shi Tingmao won the 3m springboard synchro final with ease. The new pair was quite successful when finishing every dive, scoring 339.00 points. The duel for the silver was more competitive when Ukraine's Fedorova/Pymenska pair was the runner-up, in front of Malaysia's team.

In the men's 3m synchro platform, China lost the only gold in the first day. After the first two dives, newly paired veterans He Chong and Qin Kai shared the lead with the Ukrainian pair Kvasha and Prygorov.

The Chinese divers delivered one of the most complicated programs but the Ukrainians did the same with a higher quality. After the fifth round, the Ukrainians were leading by 0.54 points, and an average 109C in the last attempt for Chinese team was not enough to recover. At last, the Europeans finished first with 445. 08 points, while the Chinese pair had to content with silver in 444.12 points.

Qin told Xinhua that he and He were a little bit tired due to the busy schedule, therefore they didn't behave well when dealing with details.

"We need to adjust our attitude in the upcoming competition and to perfect every dive," Qin said.

Ukraine's Kvasha was satisfied with their performance in the first day as they could claim the gold medal under such pressure. "Although we won the game, the Chinese pair was very competitive," he said.

The FINA Diving World Series 2013 features six stops, namely Beijing, Dubai, Edinburgh, Moscow, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

The Moscow stop is scheduled from Friday to Sunday.