Shanghai, July 19 (IANS): Despite a poor start and a bad dive, Chinese rookie Huang Xiaohui used her perfect last dive to claim her first major individual title at the women's 10m platform of FINA Diving World Cup.
Chinese Liu Huixia took the silver Friday, reports Xinhua.
Huang, winner of the mixed team event with Chen Aisen on the first day, led the field through preliminary and semi-finals and overcame a bad start and a poor 307C (reverse 3.5 somersault) with her strong 407C (inward 3.5 somersault) in the final to lift the title with 373.60 points. Her 407C collected a day-high 91.20 with two full marks.
Women's 10m platform synchro champion Liu suffered from a big splash in her fourth dive 207C (Back 3.5 somersault) in 37.95 and had to settle for a silver medal with a total of 354.35.
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Melissa Wu of Australia finished third on 349.50 and Tonia Couch of Britain fourth (330.90).
"As a World Cup debutant, I am happy with my first major individual title. However, my performance was not stable and had some flaws. That made me unhappy," said the 17-year-old Huang.
"307C is a difficult dive for women. I could not manage it very well during training. So I am not surprised with a big blow on it," Huang said.
Liu blamed her poor 207C for finishing second.
"My 207C dragged me all through the preliminary, semi-finals and final. It is my weakest dive which I need to work on. Besides, I am a synchro diver who pays more attention to the synchro and my partner. So it is a different feeling to compete in the individual event," said the 17-year-old Liu who clinched the synchro gold together with Olympic and world champion Chen Ruolin.
