体坛英语新闻：Daley fails to stop China's winning streak at Diving World Series

BEIJING, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Although Thomas Daley stole Chinese divers' thunder at the FINA Diving World Series Beijing stop, the 18-year-old British star failed to stop China's winning streak here on Saturday.

After winning all the gold medals at the World Championships for the first time last July in Shanghai, the Chinese "Dream Team" clean swept all titles at the World Cup in London in February and at the World Series Dubai stop last week. And they showed their dominance again here in Beijing.

The men's 10m platform was considered the most competitive event at the two-day Beijing stop because of the presence of Daley, winner of the event at the 2009 Rome worlds. But Daley failed to prevent a clean sweep of titles by local divers.

Qiu Bo dominated the final after the second round and won the title at 566.50 points, while Daley took the silver in 541.15. British Peter Waterfield settled for the bronze at 531.80.

Daley seemed very excited about his silver. "For me, the silver medal is the same as the gold medal when competing with the Chinese divers, because they are too strong," said the 18-year-old. "I'm really happy today. Although I made some mistakes in my fifth dive, I made some improvement in my consistency."

"It's one of my best scores this year," said Daley. "I trained hard after the Shanghai worlds and tried to get more quality and consistency in my dives. I will continue the way I'm diving."

Qiu, who was outclassed by Daley at the 2009 Rome worlds, said Daley's presence did add pressure on him.

"I dived after him and he performed really well, so I was a little nervous," Qiu said. "However, I tried to focus on my own dive and find my rhythm."

"I performed my normal level today," said Qiu, who won the event at the 2011 Shanghai worlds. "My scores were not as high as last year because of my injuries. "

Earlier Saturday, Chinese duo Chen Ruolin/Wang Hao dominated the women's 10m platform synchronized with five neat dives and collected 360.66. Mexico's diving princess Paola Espinosa and her new partner Alejandia Oiozco took the silver in 327.48. The bronze went to Canadian pair Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion in 326.10.

"I feel good for the competition," said Espinosa, winner of the 10m platform at 2009 Rome worlds. "It is my first medal with my new partner, so it's exciting."

The men's 3m springboard title was claimed by Chinese Lin Yue and Luo Yutong. Despite minor mistakes in their fourth dive, the Chinese duo led throughout the final to win the gold on 464.49 points, 33.06 points more than the runners-up Illya Kvassha/Oleksiy Prygorov of Ukraine.

The bronze went to Ukraine's Patrick Hausding/Stephan Feck, who collected 426.96 points.

In the women's 3m springboard, He Zi beat her teammate Wu Minxia to capture the title.

The 21-year-old He, who was almost 11 points behind Wu after her fourth dive, produced a game-high last dive to rank the first with 395.55 points, while world champion Wu took the silver in 394.50. Italian Tania Cagnotto finished third in 353.25.

Chinese diving team manager Zhou Jihong said invincibility could be a problem in disguise for her team.

"Our winning streak may lead to complacency and make us neglect our problems. It is a challenge, actually," Zhou told reporters.

"Sometimes we win, but our performances are far from flawless. So we can't be satisfied just with the gold medals, and instead we must focus on the mistakes and try to improve. Sometimes losing is a good thing," she added.

The Diving World Series features four stops, namely Dubai, Beijing, Moscow and Tijuana. The two-day Beijing stop ran from 23th to 24th, enjoyed a total premium of 96 thousands dollars.