13-year-old girl Liu outshines top divers at National Games

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13-year-old girl Liu outshines top divers at National Games

By Li Jia (Xinhua) 20:31, August 29, 2013

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The 13-year-old girl Liu Xin from Shandong Province turned out to be the darkest horse in the women's 10m platform final at China's National Games on Thursday as she outclassed several Olympic and world champions to win the gold.

Competing with double Olympic champion Chen Ruolin, world champions Si Yajie and Liu Huixia, as well as veteran Wu Shengping, the little girl seemed quite calm and relaxed in the final. She ranked sixth after three rounds, but outplaced Wu in the last dive with the highest score of 91.20 points and won the title in 414.80.

The 12th National Games was only the second major event attended by Liu, who had won the 10m platform at the National Junior Championships in June.

"My coach just expect me to perform to my normal level and enjoy the match," said Liu, who seemed more nervous at the news conference than she was on the platform. "I was happy during the match."

Wu, who won the team gold and synchro platform silver with Chen Ruolin, ranked second in 411.90, while Huang Xiaohui from Chinese Army was third in 405.85.

Chen only placed the fourth in 399.30, and her national team partner Liu Huixia, winner of the synchronized platform at Barcelona World Championships, came the fifth, while newly crowned world champion Si Yajie finished sixth.

Asked about her feelings towards competing with star diver Chen, Liu just said: "I didn't think about it."

She said she followed her normal rhythm during the final. "If I lost, I would train harder. I didn't expect I could win."

Liu was born in Guangxi and started diving at the age of four. She came to Shandong at seven and trained under Zhou Yilin, who was an Asian champion.

For the little girl, the competitions were just for fun. "I had no pressure," Liu said. "Actually I had a good time in the final."

Zhou said Liu's good mentality help her to win. "She has a good control of herself," said Zhou. "She has reached a high level in diving and made some progress before the Games, but I was still a little surprised by her last two dives which were almost perfect."

Liu said,"Chen Ruolin is my idol, and I always watch the videoes of her performance."

Though the two girls didn't have time to talk to each other, Chen was also impressed by Liu's performance.

"She is very stable in the final and she is a good diver," said Chen. "I am 21, and Liu is only 13. She has a lot of advantage in age, height and weight."