Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 21, 2003
Chinese Divers Top Finalists for Men's Platform at Swimming Worlds
Chinese favorites Tian Liang and Hu Jia, silver-medalists at the last world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, qualified for the men's platform synchronized diving final with the highest preliminary round score at the 10th FINA World Championships here on Sunday.
Chinese favorites Tian Liang and Hu Jia, silver-medalists at the last world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, qualified for the men's platform synchronized diving final with the highest preliminary round score at the 10th FINA World Championships here on Sunday.
It was not an easy job especially for Tian as he had his right toe seriously injured Saturday morning, before the men's platform semi-finals and the following final. He eventually won the bronzemedal.
Tian, 22, won the platform title both in Fukuoka, Japan, and inthe 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and Hu, 20, was the silver-medalist for platform in Fukuoka and the Sydney Olympic Games. they led the field with a a top-ranked preliminary score of 349.80points.
Australian Mathew Helm, third in platform in Fukuoka, and silver-medalist here on Saturday, teamed with Robert Newbery to bethe second best qualifiers, with 343.02 points.
Britons Peter Galperin and Leon Taylor were third in the prelims with 329.10.
Canada's Alexandre Despatie, the up-set winner over hot-favoredChinese duet in the men's platform final on Saturday and his partner Philippe Comtois failed however to make the final after just finishing ninth in the preliminaries. Only the top eight finishers in the preliminaries go to the final.