(Beijing, February 24) In today's men's 10m platform semifinals of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 16th FINA Diving World Cup, China's Zhou Luxin overtook Jose Guerra of Cuba with a near-perfect last dive to finish first. Sascha Klein of Germany stood third, while the other Chinese diver Lin Yue, apparently in poor form, stood at a disappointing 10th place.

A total of 18 divers competed in the semifinals that began at 10:00 a.m. this morning. In the first round, Sascha Klein of Germany led the opening round with a score of 81.60pts in 407C (inward 3½ somersaults, DD 3.2), followed closely by Thomas Daley of UK with 79.90 in 5253B (2½ somersaults 1½ twists piked, DD 3.4). Zhou was third, while Lin was way behind at 12th.

In the second round, Zhou moved up to first with 86.70pts in 5253B, followed by Klein by a narrow margin of 2.10. Guerra ranked third with 86.40 on a 207B (3½ somersaults piked, DD 3.6). Lin dropped to the 14th place with a below-par performance of 407C, 70.40.

The third round saw Zhou maintaining his lead with a high score of 92.75 in 626B (3½ somersaults piked, DD 3.5), followed by Klein by 9.10. Guerra secured his third place with a high 91.20 in 407C. Lin Yue, for his part, managed to place ninth with his 6245D worth of 88.20 (armstand 2½ somersaults 2½ twists, DD 3.6).

Zhou continued to lead the group in the fourth round, collecting 82.80 from a 207B. Guerra moved up to second with 90.75 in 636C (armstand reverse 3 somersaults, DD 3.3), trailing merely 1.40 after Zhou. Lin remained at ninth with 75.90 in 207C.

After his fifth dive of 307C which earned him 81.60, Guerra became the first in the group. Zhou dropped to third by a margin of 5.00. Peter Waterfield of UK stood second with 89.30 in 5255B (2½ somersaults 2½ twists piked). Lin, still out of shape, got 71.40 from a 307C.

In the sixth and last round, while Guerra got 79.80 in 5255B, Zhou overtook him to regain his lead with a high score of 93.50 in 307C. Klein finished third. Matthew Mitcham of Australia was fifth with a prelims-high of 96.90 in 5255B. Lin finished 10th with 85.50pts, also in 5255B.

Besides Zhou, Guerra, Klein, Mitcham and Lin, the other seven divers including Thomas Daley and Peter Waterfield advanced to the finals to be held at 7 p.m. this evening. Thomas Finchum, a promising diver from the United States, had to bow out of the finals after finishing 18th due to major mistakes made in the third and fifth rounds.