China opens at FINA Diving World Cup 2018 with two golds

WUHAN -- Diving powerhouse China pocketed two golds on the opening day of action at the FINA Diving World Cup 2018 here on Monday, while Canada, Russia, Ukraine and the United States also finished with podiums.

Rio 2016 silver medalist Si Yajie and her partner Lian Junjie won the mixed 10m synchro platform title with a total score of 353.31 points, beating the second-placed Canadian divers McKay Caeli and Riendeau Vincent by 52.11.

"It's my first time to compete in the World Cup and I was feeling good. Winning the gold in the first competition was good for me," said the 18-year-old Lian.

For the runners-up Caeli and Vincent, finishing with a medal was already a satisfactory result since it was their first competition after partnering with each other.

"Well, this is our first competition together, we are quite happy with how it finished. Our dives were pretty consistent," Caeli said.

"Very much the same thing, our first competition together. I have done mixed synchro before but it's Caeli's first time. We are pleased with the synchronised part of our performance. We could have done better in some dives individually," Vincent added.

Nazin Sergey and Belova Valeriia of Russia took the bronze medals with 299.88.

In the team event, China's Qiu Bo and Chen Yiwen collected 406.20 from six dives to finish the first. Ukraine and the United States ranked second and third places respectively.

The FINA Diving World Cup is an international diving competition which takes place every two years. This year in Wuhan is the 21st edition and will be run from June 4-10.