China grab four synchro titles at Diving World Series in BJ

The host divers enjoyed sweet home advantage, sweeping four synchro titles at the FINA/NVC Diving World Series 2015 at the Water Cube in Beijing on Friday.

Four-time Olympic champion Chen Ruolin and her world championship partner Liu Huixia met no challenges in the women's 10m synchro platform, scoring 345.36 points. Mun Yee Leong/Jun Hoong Cheong of Malaysia finished in second place in 320.28 and Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion of Canada took the bronze medal in 310.86.

"Coming back to the Water Cube, I have a mixed feeling. I feel familiar with here since it is the Beijing Olympic Games venue which brought me my first Olympic title. But on the other hand, it is new to me as the venue was redecorated with more Chinese elements. We enjoyed it very much. The victory is a good start of the year for me. I will try my best to earn a ticket for Rio Olympic Games at Kazan World Championships," said the 22-year-old Chen.

Though in high fever, Beijing Olympic champion Lin Yue and his new partner Chen Aisen snatched the gold in the men's 10m synchro in 486.75, ahead of Patrick Hausding/Sascha Klein of Germany (410.28_ and Ivan Garcia/German Sanchez of Mexico (393.39).

"To be honest, it is not a pleasant experience to compete with a high fever of 39 degrees centigrade. I was heavy and dizzy during the competition. I could hardly stand solid on the platform. But it is competition, I need to challenge myself and try my best with fighting spirit. Talking about the competition, I am happy that we only started to pair up for three month, but we made improvement today comparing with our first and last competition in last week," Lin said in smile.

In the women's 3m synchro springboard final, Wu Minxia/Shi Tingmao claimed victory in 328.50, beating Maddison Keeney/Annabelle Smith of Australia (299.55) and Alicia Blagg/Rebecca Gallantree of Britain (293.40).

Wu, 29, who vies for her fourth Olympic attendance, said: "I am happy that I can still dive on the springboard. I enjoy diving which brings me a lot in my life. I hope I can strengthen myself and step by step towards the Rio Olympic Games."

Qin Kai/Cao Yuan added China fourth title by winning the men's 3m synchro springboard in 442.41. Evgeny Kuznetsov/Ilia Zakharov of Russia took the silver in 417.30 and Stephan Feck/Patrick Hausding of Germany came third in 406.29.

"I felt rusty in the competition that I did not perform my training form. I was far away from competition last year. I need more competitions to find my form," said Qin, who was absent from last year's competition due to knee injury.

A total of 73 divers from 12 countries and regions compete in the three-day World Series. The men's and women's 3m springboard, and newly added mixed 3m synchro springboard will take place on Saturday.

The FINA Diving World Series is the first international events to be held at the the National Aquatics Center, which hosted the welcome banquet for world leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting last November.