(BEIJING, 21 February) - Chinese springboard master, He Chong lived up to expectation in front of the home crowds when he qualified top into the semifinals by a margin of 23.00 points to the rest of the field. His teammate, Chen Ruolin (CHN) attempts to collect her second gold at the World Cup here in Beijing, competing in the Women's 10m platform synchro with Wang Xing (CHN).

Men's 3m springboard semifinals

Favourites:

He Chong (CHN) is a clear favourite in this event. Current world No.2 ranked diver, He surprisingly finished at sixth at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne. However, He, who is faced for commanding a set of difficult dives, won gold at the 2007 World Series in Nanjing.

Silver medalist in this event at Melbourne 2007, Alesandre Despatie (CAN) is seeded second to the semifinals with a total score of 476.05 points. The Canadian is currently ranked No. 1 in this discipline and also won title at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Also...:

Ken Terauchi of Japan finished at third in the preliminaries with a total score of 456.40 points. Terauchi netted bronze in this event at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan and came fourth at Melbourne 2007.

Reigning world champion, Qin Kai (CHN) performed below par at the preliminaries round. He didn't earn score more than 80.00 points from each dive in the session. Qin has won two out of three titles in this event at the World Series last year (He won Sheffield and Mexico City).

18 divers will compete in this event and top 12 divers go through to the finals tonight.

Women's 10m platform synchro

Favourite:

Chen Ruolin (CHN) and Wang Xin (CHN) are the hot favourites in this event. They have won all three titles at the World Series events last September They staged one-two finish in women's 10m platform finals on Wednesday.

Australian pair of Melissa Wu and Bunny Cole secured silver in this event on their home soil at Melbourne 2007. They showed their good combination at the World Series - they finished second at Nanjing and third at Sheffield.

Also:

Emilie Heymans (CAN) and Marie-Eve Marleau (CAN) won this event at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, BraziL. They also came third at the 2008 Grand Prix circuit in Madrid, Spain.

17 teams will participate and 12 teams make the finals tonight.