Chinese male divers improves difficulty at National Games

The diving competition of the Chinese National Games ended Sunday with world champ Qiu Bo winning the last event - the men's 10m platform.

Qiu, runner-up of the 10m platform at the London Olympics, won the gold with 588.70 points, 34.70 points more than the silver medalist Huo Liang of Shanghai. Yang Jian of Sichuan was third in 548.80.

Qiu performed well in the fifth dive 109B, which was given the highest score 112.75 points.

"Qiu just began to practice the dive in winter and I think his performance today is very good," said Zhou Jihong, leader of the Chinese team. "We lost the 10m platform gold in London, so we must try our best to improve the difficulty to compete with other countries."

Qiu Bo also won the synchronized platform with Yang Jian at the National Games. He was the only diver to claim two gold at the Games.

In the men's 3m springboard, Olympic champion He Chong and Qin Kai as well as veteran Li Shixin all used high difficulty dives. He Chong won the individual gold, while the synchro gold went to Qin Kai and his partner Zhang Sen.

In the women's 10m platform, Liu Xin from Shandong Province turned out to be the dark horse 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 13-year-old Liu seemed quite calm and relaxed in the final. She ranked sixth after three rounds, but outscored Wu in the last dive to win the title.

The National Games was only the second major event for Liu, who had won the 10m platform at the national junior championships in June.

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

According to Zhou Jihong, Chen is still one of the best divers in China. "Chen is very stable, but now she has some problems in her weight," she said. "I think she can be back to her top form."

The synchro women's platform gold was claimed by veteran Zhang Jun and Wang Han of Hebei.

Earlier Sunday, Barcelona World Championships women's 3m springboard winner He Zi claimed the title of the event. He, representing Guangdong, led all the way to win in 392.45 points, while Shi Tingmao of Chongqing was second in 380.40. Wang Han of Hebei, winner of the synchro springboard at the National Games, ranked third in 371.40.