He Chong captures Men’s 3m Springboard gold medal: Day three – 18th FINA Diving World Cup
World champion and Chinese star, He Chong lived up to the expectations of his supporters by capturing gold medal of the Men’s 3m Springboard on third day of the 18th Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) Visa Diving World Cup 2012
at the Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park in London on Wednesday, February 22.
Chong ended second in the preliminary round behind his team-member, Qin Kai, but geared up his efforts in the semi-final and subsequently in the playoff to reach the medal rostrum for gold medal.
With his scintillating form at the FINA World Cup, the 24-year-old Chong has aroused hopes of his fans for the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games. He showed no mercy to his rivals and shattered their hopes with his early season form.
Chong, who won the title of same event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is China’s top most hope for gold medal at the forthcoming Olympic Games. He also raked gold medals of the 3m discipline at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships.
The Chinese expert, who obtained 523.60 points in the semi-final, improved his score by almost 30 points to ensure his top finish on the victory stand. He made no mistake in the playoff and notched up an incredible score of 553.35 points for gold medal.
With his immaculate struggle, he gave no chance to his strongest competitor, Kai, who finished second behind him. Similarly, the 26-year-old Kai suffered a deficit of 29.35 points and followed Chong on the victory stand for silver medal with a score of 524.00
points.
The silver medallist was trailed by Alexandre Despatie of Canada, who tried hard to surpass Kai’s effort but failed to achieve so. Despatie remained 12.05 points behind his former finisher and stepped on the medal rostrum for bronze medal as he gathered
a score of 511.95 points.
He was in a lead of just 0.25 points over Australia’s Ethan Warren, who gained a total of 511.70 points and settled on the overall points table for fourth position.
Furthermore, the session ended after the event while the championship will conclude on February 26 after the completion of all scheduled events.
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