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FINA diving meet in Changzhou Friday

Thursday, 26th March 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

After table tennis, diving was the sport that China dominated most during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So when the city of Changzhou hosts the China stop on this year's FINA Diving Grand Prix series, a good spectator turnout is expected, as well as some very high-caliber diving.

At the Olympics last August, the host country won all but one gold medal--the men's 10-meter platform title was snatched from Zhou Luxin (周吕鑫) by Australia's Matthew Mitcham, whose execution of a 3.8 degree of difficulty dive earned him the highest score in the history of Olympic diving.

FINA has not released a day-by-day schedule or a lineup of competitors, but most of the big names were out for last week's meet in Doha. Zhou barely beat Mitcham in the 10-meter platform, and China won all eight gold medals at the event. China's other winners at Doha were:

Wang Feng/Kai Qin (men's three-meter springboard synchro)

Chen Ruolin/Li Kang (women's 10-meter platform synchro)

Zhang Xinhua (men's three-meter springboard)

Lin Yue/Huo Liang (men's 10-meter platform synchro)

Wang Han/He Zi (women's three-meter platform synchro)

Chen Ruolin (women's 10-meter platform)

Wu Minxia (women's three-meter springboard)

China's "diving queen," four-time gold medalist Guo Jingjing (a three-meter springboard diver), has still not returned to competition. She has reportedly said she expects to compete beginning in May.

Tags: Changzhou, diving, FINA, Matthew Mitcham, Zhou Luxin

Bao Chunlai advances at China Masters

Thursday, 25th September 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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Chinese players and pairs are 7-6 after one day of play at the China Masters Super Series in Changzhou, Jiangsu province. Olympian Bao Chunlai, along with Chen Jin, Li Yu and Gong Weijie, Qiu Yanbo, Chen Yiu and Wang Yihan all won on a day where three of the matches pitted Chinese players against each other. Bao took three sets to beat Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, and joked that his new haircut might have clinched him the win. "Perhaps he felt uncomfortable with my new hair, so he lost the game," Bao said, according to a press release from tournament organizers. Bao is sporting a shaved head for the tournament. He is China's biggest star playing in this event; gold medalists Lin Dan (men) and Xie Xingfang (women) are not competing.

Women's doubles and mixed doubles play starts Thursday and the tournament runs through September 28. The tournament is sponsored by Chinese sports apparel brand Li-Ning.

Image: 2008 Li-Ning China Masters

Tags: badminton, Bao Chunlai, Changzhou, Jiangsu