• Submitted by: admin
• International
• Sports
• 09 / 16 / 2007

Teenage pair Lin Yue and Huo Liang claimed the opening gold in the men's ten-meter platform synchronized event at 487.80 points, making three consecutive wins at the inaugural three-leg World Series.

Duo world champion Qin Kai and his teammate He Chong made a strong combat in the men's three-meter springboard event.

The 21-year-old Qin led the squad of four until the fifth round, but was edged by He with a superb last dive.

He, the 2005 world champion in the synchronized event, excellently executed his trump card 5156B -- forward two and a half somersault three twist pike, earning a event-high score of 108.3 points.

He took out the gold with a total score of 556.55. Qin, who won the event at the first two legs of World Series, finished second at 555.45 points. Canadian golden boy Alexandre Despatie was third at 523.30 points.

Russian legend Dmitry Sautin withdrew from the competitions in the last minute due to back injury.

Ahead of He's triumph, unbeatable diving queen Guo Jingjing breezily won the women's three-meter springboard synchronized event with partner Wu Minxia.

The Olympic and three world championships winning pair collected a total of 352.50 points from five well-performed dives, leaving Russian pair A. Pozdnyakova and Yuliya Pakhalina fall behind at 327.51 points. Australian duo Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole finished third at 313.14 points.

Teenagers Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin also brought a scorching duel in the women's ten-meter platform as Chen edged world champion Wang with a 0.95 point advantage.

Chen claimed the last gold on Saturday with 443.50 points, followed by Wang at 432.55 and Mexican Paola Espinosa at 400.85 points.

The other four events including men's ten-meter platform, men's three-meter springboard synchronized, women's three-meter springboard and women's ten-meter platform synchronized are going to be held on Sunday.

The inaugural FINA Diving World Series is reserved for the cream of the crop in the sport: the top- eight from the World Championships in the individual events and the top-six in the synchronized events.

The same elite squad had to rush from England to Mexico in the past two weeks, then finish their last stop of the circuit at Nanjing, China. China bagged home all the 16 golds at the first two legs of World Series