BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese diving "Dream Team" claimed all of the four gold medals on offer on Day One of the Diving World Series Beijing stop here on Friday.
China's divers spearheaded by Olympic champions Wu Minxia, Chen Ruolin, Qin Kai and He Chong staged a dominant performance at the National Aquatics Center, Beijing's iconic "Water Cube".
With a record of six Olympic diving medals, Wu was hardly challenged in the final of the women's three-meter springboard synchro, though this time her partner changed from Olympic partner He Zi to a promising diver Shi Tingmao.
The pair took the gold medal with a margin of 30.81 points to silver medalist Blagg Alicia/Gallantree Rebecca of Britain, who amassed 305.79 points, while the bronze medal was snatched by Fedorova Olena/Pysmenska Anna of Ukraine with 305.79 points.
"Shi is a newcomer. We pair with each other because we share the similar rhythm," said Wu. "We train so hard and know each other well since our combination, and we hope we could be more synchronized."
Olympic champions He/Qin joins hand in strength to claimed the men's three-meter springboard synchro title with 468.90 points in total.
The debut of the new pair met little challenge in the final as they pulled away other six pairs after first round and never looked back.
"This is our first international competition, I'm happy to pair with Qin," said He. "Today's result is better than what we expected because we only trained with each other for a month, and I hope we could be better in the future."
Russian Kuznetsov Evgeny/Zakharov Ilya took the silver medal with a margin of 38.58 points, while the bronze went to Castillo H. Yahel/Islas Daniel from Mexico with 396.15 points.
Another Olympic champion Chen Ruolin and her new partner Liu Huixia finished first in the final of the women's 10m platform synchro with 351.78 points.
"It's my first title at the Water Cube," said Liu. "My dives were not perfect but I'm so happy that we still win. I want to say thank you to my partner."
Canadian duo Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion was second in 316.71, while Yulia Koltunova/Natalia Goncharova of Russia settled for a bronze in 316.56.
In the men's 10m platform synchro, Chinese pair Lin Yue/Chen Aisen led the mere four-pair field all the way and snatched the gold medal with 493.47, 53.82 points more than the silver medalists Victor Minibaev/Artem Chesakov of Russia. Ivan Garcia N/Adan Zuniga of Mexico brought home a bronze with 403.47.
"We did what we expected," said Lin, Beijing Olympic champion in the event with Huo Liang. "There were only four pairs in the final today but I think we all performed well."
FINA Diving World Series 2013 features six stops, namely Beijing, Dubai, Edinburgh, Moscow, Guadalajara and Mexico City. From March 15-17, more than 60 world-class divers representing 12 countries will compete in the opening stop.
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