China claim second synchro gold

Lin Yue and Huo Liang of China dived to an easy gold in the men's synchronised 10 metre platform.

Lin Yue, left, and Huo Liang of China receive their gold medals.

BEIJING // China dived to an easy gold in the men's synchronised 10 metre platform on Monday, the host nation's second first-place finish in two days in a sport they hope will help push them to the top of the medal chart. It was the Olympic debut for World Champions Lin Yue and Huo Liang, who shrugged off the pressure from a home crowd to take the lead from the first round with a dive that won them a clutch of almost-perfect 9.5s, and one perfect 10.

They never relinquished their lead, eventually winning with 468.18 points. A strong last dive for German duo Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein, the highest scoring of the whole final, propelled them to a silver medal with 450.42 points. The Russian duo Gleb Galperin and Dmitriy Dobroskok had held second place until the last round of the final but were undermined by a weak fifth dive and finished with bronze, narrowly ahead of Australian contenders Mathew Helm and Robert Newberry who had come out of retirement to compete.

"Diving diva" Guo Jingjing and younger partner Wu Minxia launched the Chinese medal charge this year when they lived up to their billing as favourites and claimed gold in the women's synchronised 3 metre springboard on Sunday. China has been a powerful force in men's synchronised 10 metre platform since it was introduced at the Sydney Olympics, claiming silver that year and moving up to take gold in Athens in 2004.

*Reuters