Dubai: China’s Qui Bo won gold in the men’s 10-metre springboard final as the second round of the six-stage 2015 FINA/NVC Diving World Series drew to a close at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Saturday.
Three perfect dives saw Qui finish with 612.75 points, beating his previous personal best of 609.00.
Great Britain’s Tom Daley and China’s Jian Yang also recorded one perfect dive each to finish second and third respectively. Daley finished with 578.25 points beating his personal best of 578.15, while Jian totalled 563.90.
After qualifying in third behind Jian and Daley on Saturday morning, Qui said: “This morning I did not warm up properly so didn’t perform well, tonight was better. I am happy with that.”
Daley said after fellow Briton Jack Laugher’s victory in the 3-metre springboard final on Friday, followed by his own silver medal in the 10-metre springboard on Saturday, cracks were beginning to show in China’s dominance.
“It’s definitely nice to know that China are beatable now,” he said. “And it’s just about making sure that you put as much pressure on them as possible, because who knows what can happen in competition, as we saw yesterday in the men’s 3-metre [springboard final]. You just have to keep plugging away and try to chase them. We’re catching up. Jack’s gold inspired me to get a pb [personal best] and I got one,” he added.
Elsewhere, China’s Chen Ruolin won the final of the women’s 10-metre springboard with 386.05 points, ahead of teammate Liu Huixia on 370.70 and Great Britain’s Tania Couch on 367.70.
“Four years ago there was no such thing as beating the Chinese but now we’re getting close,” said Couch. “The men have caught them up completely, the women have still a little bit to catch up but we’re right behind them.”
Roulin added: “The improvement of other countries encourages us to get stronger and perform better to maintain the top level. It’s pressure but it’s more like encouragement. I’m happy with my performance tonight.”
In the final event of the evening Chinese duo Tai Xiaohu and Lian Jie won gold in the 10-metre mixed synchro competition with 363.12 points ahead of Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito and Vincent Riendeau on 335.58 and Mexico’s Jahir Ocampo and Alejandra Orozco on 314.10.
Ahmad Al Falasi, President of UAE Swimming Federation, said: “The competition over the last three days has been superb, and tonight’s finals were a thrilling end to a wonderful event. We are pleased to see how many people came to see out this fantastic display and it is great to see how much they enjoyed it. I wish all the athletes the very best for the rest of the Diving World Series.”
The FINA/NVC Diving World series now moves to Kazan, Russia on April 24-26, then London on May 1-3, Windsor, Canada on May 22-14, before the last leg in Merida, Mexico on May 29-31.
