Tokyo, Sep 29 (IANS) China’s Olympic champion Chen Yuxi delivered a dominant performance in the women’s 10m platform on Tuesday, while two-time Olympic champion Wang Zongyuan completed a three-gold sweep as China continued its dominance of diving at the 2026 Asian Games.
Chen led from the opening round and pulled clear with two outstanding dives midway through the final, eventually taking gold with 432.65 points. Teammate Lu Wei finished second with 385.40, while DPR Korea’s Jo Jin-mi took bronze with 363.80.
After scoring 76.50 and 86.40 on her opening two dives, Chen earned 92.40 for her third before producing the highlight of the final in the fourth round.
Her back 3 1/2 somersaults in tuck position earned 97.35 points, with several judges awarding perfect 10s for execution. Chen closed with 80.00 points on her final dive to comfortably secure the title, reports Xinhua.
“In the final, I kept telling myself that every dive had to be done cleanly. I had to stay relaxed without any hesitation,” Chen said. “I’d rather pull off the dive decisively, imperfect as it might be, than hesitate halfway through.”
Chen acknowledged that her final dive had not gone according to plan after she nearly over-rotated. “I need to go back and train hard. After all, I still didn’t do the 5253B well,” she said.
The victory came five years after Chen won Olympic silver at the same venue. “I had not competed in an individual event for almost a year. I hadn’t fully adapted to the rhythm and state of competition,” Chen said.
Asked to describe the five years between her two appearances at the venue in one word, Chen chose “resilience.”
“Over these five years, I have certainly encountered difficulties and moments when I wanted to give up. But in the end, I firmly chose to come back and keep going,” she said.
Chen said her next major target was the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Lu, competing at her first Asian Games, said excitement had affected her control during the final. “Overall, I felt pretty good about the competition, but in the afternoon I was very excited, and perhaps I had a little less control over my dives,” the 16-year-old said.
Later on Tuesday, Wang completed his three-gold campaign by winning the men’s 3m springboard, adding the title to his victories in the men’s 1m springboard and synchronised 3m springboard.
Wang led from his opening dive and remained on top throughout the final. He faltered with 68.40 points on his fifth attempt but responded with 85.50 on his last to seal the title. “It was a challenge to compete in three events and fight for three gold medals, especially as I get older,” the 24-year-old said. “I’m very happy that I managed to push through and accomplish the goal, although my overall performance was not perfect.”
Teammate Zheng Jiuyuan recovered from two major errors to claim silver.
Zheng scored just 39.10 points on his opening dive and 43.20 on his fourth, but recovered with 74.10 on his fifth before producing the highest-scoring dive of the final. His final effort earned 93.60 points and lifted him to silver with 419.75. Japan’s Sakai Sho took bronze with 376.40.
“I was too excited at the beginning, but I forced myself to calm down and just follow what I do in training,” said Zheng, who was competing at his first Asian Games.
Wang’s victory in the men’s 3m springboard was China’s 98th Asian Games diving gold medal.
The final two diving titles will be decided Wednesday in the women’s 3m springboard and men’s 10m platform.
–IANS
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