FINA Newsletter from Barcelona #2

Newsletter #2 // July 21, 2013

German duo beat Chinese favourites in men's 10m synchro final

Germany's Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding pulled off a major coup when they defeated Olympic champions Yuan Cao and Yanquan Zhang to deny China the men's 10m synchro diving title in a thrilling final at the FINA World Championships.

The Chinese pair started like the favourites they were and led after three rounds of the six-dive final, their progress starred with maximum 10 scores - no less than seven from the 11 judges in the second round. Butthey came badly unstuck in the fourth round and were eventually relieved to salvage bronze behind the German pair and Victor Minibaev and Artem Chesakov of Russia.

Klein and Hausding, newly crowned European champions and silver medallists behind China at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, hit the front in the fifth round and held their nerve in the final series to stay ahead of Minibaev and Chesakov and Mexican Olympic silver medallists German Sanchez and Ivan Garcia, with only Cao and Zhang to come.

more on fina.org

Russia’s “Svetlanas” retain duet tech title

Three-time Olympic champion Svetlana Romashina and new partner Svetlana Kolesnichenko led the way through the duet technical routine, pocketing Russia’s tenth world title in the duet since their breakthrough victory in 1998.

They performed a complex routine, marked by technical perfection, speed and dynamism, amassing a total score of 97.300. After winning gold with Anastasia Davydova in 2009 and Natalia Ishchenko in 2011, Romashina repeats as world champion in the event for the third time.

Chinese stars Tingting and Wenwen Jiang, who won a duet technical bronze in Rome in 2009, devised a sophisticated routine to challenge Russia’s dominance. Showing good technique, body control and elegance, the 27-year-old twins earned an overall 94.900 points, each collecting their eighth medal at world level.

more on fina.org

Greece starts title defence with loss to Olympic champion USA

World champion Greece tasted defeat on the opening day of its title defence of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championship at the Bernat Picornell Pool. Who better to inflict the defeat than Olympic and World Cup champion United States of America with what was a flattering 12-8 margin after a brilliant final quarter. In the other Group C encounter, Canada and Great Britain played a spirited match before Canada prevailed 14-9.

In Group A action, the marquee match of the day, Spain took until midway through the second quarter to gain the lead, which it never relinquished in what was the most thrilling match of the day. Russia opened the championship with a 22-6 victory over Uzbekistan.

In Group B action, World League champion China nearly kept South Africa scoreless with a handsome 17-2 victory and world No 3 Australia earlier dispensed with New Zealand 15-4.

In Group D, Hungary romped home 20-6 over Brazil and Italy came back from 3-0 down to Kazakhstan to rebound 8-3 and finally come home 9-7.

Women's points after day one:

Group A: RUS 2, ESP 2, NED 0, UZB 0.
Group B: CHN 2, AUS 2, NZL 0, RSA 0.
Group C: CAN 2, USA 2, GRE 0, GBR 0.
Group D: HUN 2, ITA 2, KAZ 0, BRA 0.

more on fina.org

THIS EMAIL WAS SENT FROM THEFINA COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

FINA Office // Avenue de l'Avant-Poste 4 - 1005 Lausanne // Tel. (+41 21) 310 47 10 // Fax (+41 21) 312 66 10