As expected, China completed a clean sweep in the diving events with Lin Yue
and Wang Xin winning the last two golds in the last-day diving finals at the
15th Asian Games in Doha yesterday.
In the men's 10-meter platform, Lin Yue and Zhou Luxin, both ofChina, changed
their leads for four rounds before Lin scored four perfect 10 points in his
fifth dive reverse 3-1/2 somersaults witha day-high 100.30.
Lin clinched the title in 551.50 while Zhou finished second in 533.90 and Kim
Chon Man of DPR Korea in 456.35.
Lin, the champion of East Asian Games last year and winner of three Grand
Prix titles and the Super Grand Prix Final in 2006, has enjoyed a winning record
2-1 against World Cup gold medalist Zhou in this year before the Asian Games.
The 15-year-old Lin said that "I felt nervous at the beginning and became
more relaxed afterwards. It's my third competition within one month, including
the Super Grand Prix Final in Mexico, China Champions Tour and the Asian Games,
so I am very tired right now."
In a battle between two 14-year-old rookies, Wang Xin edged her fellow
Chinese Chen Ruolin to take the women's 10m platform by collecting 419.25, 1.15
points ahead of Chen.
Hong In Sun of DPR Korea and Risa Asada of Japan finished third and fourth in
354.00 and 353.75 points respectively.
Wang, who competed in her first international meet, said: "My last two dives
were terrible, but fortunately I got the gold by a slim margin of 1.15 points. I
hope I can participate in the World Championships next year."
After the five-day diving competition, China bagged all 10 golds on offer,
together with six individual silver medals, leaving Japan two silvers and two
bronzes, Malaysia and DPR Korea one silver and three bronzes, and South Korea
two bronzes.