Chinese divers back to winning track at Universiade

Beijing 2008 Olympic champion Huo Liang wins the men's 10-meter platform at the Kazan Universiade in Kazan, Russia, July 10, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Zhangye Linzi, the only Chinese female gymnast in the Universiade, competes during the balance beam event at the Kazan Universiade in Kazan, Russia, July 10, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese divers finally found back their winning tradition as Huo Liang and Zheng Shuangxue won the men's 10-meter platform and women's 3-meter springboard titles at Universiade.

China also won the silver medals of the two events on Wednesday through Wu Jun and Jia Dongjin respectively.

In the first four diving events at Kazan Universiade, China won only one gold while host Russia took two and Australia won the other one.

In the men's 10-meter platform final, Huo Liang, 2008 Beijing Olympic champion in synchronized diving, beat back challenge from Mexican and Russian opponents, winning the title in 531.25 points.

"The final was tough, the atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed the competition," said Huo Liang, who is one of the four Chinese Olympic champions taking part in the Kazan Universiade.

The gymnastics tournament of Kazan Universiade concluded on Wednesday with Russian gymnasts winning lion's share of gold medals. Zhangye Linzi, the only Chinese female gymnast in the Universiade, surprisingly won the balance beam event, beating Olympic and European champions from Russia to the second and third places.

Russia won 10 gymnastics titles while China, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Brazil and South Korea each won a gold.

Russia was also dominant in the track and field events on Wednesday, winning 5 out of 10 events. Russia athletes were also victorious in swimming, judo and fencing on Wednesday.

After Wednesday competitions, Russia has won a total of 62 gold medals, followed by Japan, China and South Korea with 7 gold medals each.

The Kazan Universiade, featuring 351 events in 27 sports, will run through to July 17.

Special report: Kazan Universiade, July 2013