DUBAI // Such is the robotic consistency of Chinese diver Bo Qiu that, ahead of the Fina Diving World Series finale, one staff member at the Hamdan Sports Complex likened the 21 year old to an automaton.
As if intent on living up to the comparison, Bo, during the men’s 10-metre platform finals, scored a binary code.
The seven judges scored him: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.
A series of perfect 10s is not as uncommon as might be expected. What is uncommon is that the recipient would then fail to take the gold medal. Bo’s system appeared to malfunction on his fifth of six dives as he followed up his perfect dive with the lowest score of the evening – one that two of the judges scored 3.5.
That result propelled Victor Minibaev of Russia to the top of the scoreboard with one round to go and when Bo failed to nail his final dive – two-and-a-half somersaults followed by three twists – a shock end to the competition was confirmed in favour of Minibaev.
David Boudia of the United States finished third, ahead of Team GB's Tom Daley.
Bo rejected suggestions he was affected by his perfect 10s and put his poor fifth dive down to being uneasy performing twists.
“I acted as normal. Nothing was different mentally and I did quite a good job in the last dive so feel quite happy about it all,” Bo said, through a translator.
“[In the fourth dive] I wasn’t comfortable doing twists so planned to do another action instead.
“I changed temporarily, but didn’t present very well.”
Boudia, who took gold at the London Olympics in 2012, said he usually tries to block out his rivals’ scores when he performs, but was unable to avoid hearing the PA system announcing Bo’s perfect 10s.
“I am a train-wreck when it comes to that,” he said of hearing the scores.
“I learnt when I was 14 or 15 that if I start following the score, my name will gradually slip down the board.
“Before and after me, you can hear the 8s, 9s and 10s, so you know it is close, but if you start looking at the scoreboard it plays mind games with you.
“It’s funny though, because we are through the back and we hear ‘10,10,10 ...’ and we’re like: ‘China, of course’,” Boudia said.
“It’s surprising he missed two of his dives at the end, but that is what diving is all about.
“It’s a sport with lots of pressure that on any given day, any diver can win and Victor showed that.”
Earlier, China’s Huixia Liu took gold ahead of Malaysia’s Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Roseline Filion of Canada in the women’s 10m platform.
Liu said she was delighted with her individual performance and will focus now on improving her synchro performance.
The third round of the series takes place in London next month.
Boudia said returning for the first time to the scene where he won his gold medal will be an emotional experience.
“The year after the Olympic Games was probably the hardest year of my entire life: trying to re-evaluate goals, re-evaluate why I am diving,” he said.
“There are a lot of emotions that come because you grow up dreaming about winning Olympic gold, so walking into the pool will definitely bring back lots of memories. Hopefully I can repeat the performance.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
Company%20profile
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The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
SPECS
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
The%20Specs
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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster