Qiu's perfect scores not enough to beat consistent Minibaev

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  • Consistency pays off: Victor Minibaev took gold in the Men's 10m platform.

    It’s not every day a diver receives an astonishing perfect 10s in a dive then ends up with a silver medal not gold.

    But such was the level of intensity in the men’s 10m platform event at the Hamdan Sports Complex yesterday, that the perfect dive China’s Qiu Bo delivered in the fourth round was not enough for him to top the podium last night,.

    The final event of the Dubai leg of the 2014 FINA/NVC Diving World Series boasted a world-class field that featured Olympic champion David Boudia, reigning world champion Qiu Bo and British sensation Tom Daley. But it was the consistency of Russia’s Victor Minibaev that ultimately made the difference, as the 22-year-old ran away with the gold, to claim his first medal of the series this season.

    “I love Dubai, I love swimming in this pool and I’m just really happy,” said Minibaev, a runner-up in 10m synchro last year at the World Championships in Barcelona.

    Daley, a former world champion and a bronze medallist at the London Olympics, laid down the gauntlet in the opening round, scoring a 99.75 with his 207B (armstand backward triple somersault in pike) to shoot to first place.   

    But Qiu Bo went on a tear with his next three dives, scoring perfect 10s in the fourth round with a stunning back 3 ½ somersaults in pike position to move up to first, while Daley messed up his 109C – front 4 ½ somersaults in tuck – to fall back to fifth. In the meantime, Minibaev was consistently holding on to second.

    In a surprising turn of events, Qiu Bo flopped on his 109C in the fifth round, scoring a low 49.95, which pushed him back to second, while both Minibaev and Boudia impressed to take first and third respectively.

    Qiu Bo was only five points behind Minibaev entering the final round but the Chinese again didn’t deliver his best and had to settle for second place, as the Russian took home the gold, leaving Boudia with the bronze.

    Daley did everything he could to recover from his fourth round glitch, and had two great dives to round off his night but it wasn’t enough to get on the podium.

    Qiu Bo explained he hasn’t been quite comfortable with his twists lately, which is why he changed his routine a little bit in Dubai, opting for more somersaults.

    It’s the second time he’s missed out on gold in the series this season but he’s still happy with his performance in Dubai, which he believes was a step up from Beijing in the series opener last week.

    “The 5156B dive which is a new one I’ve been working on was much better this week than in Beijing,” said Qiu Bo, who scored 9.5 more points on that dive in Dubai than in the Chinese capital.

    Bouncing back

    Boudia, who had a disappointing start to the series, placing sixth in Beijing, was happy to return to the podium and hailed his rivals for putting on a fabulous show for the crowd.

    “It’s always fun diving with the world’s best and having China dive for 10s, and the Russians, and Tom Daley. When it’s a competition like that, and the atmosphere the UAE has, it makes every athlete step up their competition,” said the American Olympic champion, who added that he wasn’t checking the scoreboard but could hear the judges announce the perfect 10s for Qiu Bo’s dive.

    “It’s funny we were in the back and we heard 10, 10, 10 and we said ‘oh, of course’. But it was surprising that he missed two of his dives at the end and that’s what diving is. It’s a sport with lots of pressure and on any given day any diver can win and Victor showed that today.”

    Fighting fit

    Meanwhile, Daley, who had been struggling with a triceps injury leading up to Dubai, said he can find some solace in the fact that he ended up competing, and had it not been for his poor fourth dive, he would have snagged a place on the podium.

    “It was a bit touch and go whether I was actually even going to compete,” said Daley.

    “So competing was like a bonus so I was really happy with that but it’s just frustrating because it’s kind of bittersweet in the way that I was happy that I competed but then frustrated with that one dive, the front 4 ½. If I had even got 6.5s or 7s I would have got a medal. And if I got what I normally get, like 8.5s or 9s, I would have won. So that’s the annoying thing. It’s kind of good to know that I could do it, and with the training and not being injured… I have to take a little bit of confidence in that.

    On Qiu Bo’s perfect 10s, the young Brit added: “Me and David (Boudia) were actually laughing about it in the showers because Qiu Bo’s coach came over to him and was still shouting at him for what he’d done wrong. And we’re thinking ‘he just got 10s, just chill out’.

    “It’s a tough field. You’ve got to be on your A-game.

    “It makes you want to go after it more. Seeing that I needed like a 9.8 average to get a medal, I went after it with everything I had.”

    The series now moves to London, where the divers will return to the pool that hosted the Olympics two years ago for the first time since then.

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