The curtains were brought down on the Dubai leg of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series last night with five perfect dives – three from world champion Qiu Bo, and one each from Tom Daley and Jian Yang – at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
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Along with Bo, Daley and Jian, the field included Olympic champion David Boudia, world championships bronze medallist Sascha Klein, and Mexico’s Ivan Garcia.
After Daley produced a perfect dive in the 10m semi-final in the morning, hopes were high for another gold medal for Great Britain after Jack Laugher won the 3m gold last night.
Silver medal and a new PB here in Dubai! Very happy right now but may have gone overboard (pardon the pun) with the celebratory cheesecake!
— Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) March 21, 2015
A brilliant start with a perfect dive from Bo saw him take the lead, and despite tough challenges from every diver, he produced perfect dives again in rounds four and six to stay in front for the entire competition, finishing with 612.75, beating his previous personal best of 609.00.
Daley’s perfect dive in round three set the stage alight, and moved the Briton into second position which he held onto, finishing with 578.25, and also beating his personal best of 578.15.
Yang had moved into second by round two, but missed his next dive. He regrouped for a perfect score in round four to keep him in the medal hunt in third position, taking bronze with 563.90.
Garcia of Mexico finished fourth with 530.75, just 1.5 points ahead of Boudia on 529.25. Klein finished in sixth with 512.15.
Bo said: “In the morning I did not warm up properly so didn’t perform well, but by evening I was better. I am happy with that.”
Daley was thrilled with the silver medal, and said: “It’s definitely nice to know that China are beatable now, and it’s just about making sure that you put as much pressure on them as possible, because who knows what can happen in competition, as we saw yesterday in the men’s 3m.
“You just have to keep plugging away and try to chase them. We’re catching up.”
The women’s final saw Tonia Couch of Great Britain emerge as the early leader. A lower scoring dive from Couch in round three opened the door for Chen Ruolin, who regained the lead and went on to win with 386.05.
Team-mate Liu Huixia posted the best dive of the final in round six, scoring 89.60 to finish second. Couch hung on for third with 367.70, just ahead of Malaysia’s Pandelela Rinong Pamg on 362.55. Canada’s Roseline Filion finished in fifth on 356.05.
