China tops diving medal table at Kazan Universiade

China tops the diving medal table of Kazan Universiade with eight gold medals, followed by host Russia in the second place with three and Australia ranks third with one title.

The diving tournament at Kazan Universiade concluded after the final of women's synchronised 10m platform which was won by Chen Ni and Xia Yuhua of China at 325.32. Russian pair Natalia Goncharova and Yulia Koltunova finished second at 307.62. The bronze medal was taken by a Mexican combination.

Earlier in the men's synchronised 3m springboard final, Russian Olympic silver medalists Evgeny Kuznetsov and Illa Zakharov displayed a stunning performance to beat London Olympic champion Luo Yutong and his new partner Lin Jin of China to the second place.

The Russian pair had a flawless performance to collect 479.34 points while Luo and Lin were second at 458.34. Mexicans Yahel Castillo Huerta and Daniel Islas Alejandro took home the bronze medal at 426.78 points.

"They (the Russians) were superb today. We have met many times and I had never seen them perform better," said Luo Yutong, who paired with Qin Kai to beat the Russian pair with a big margin at the London Olympics.

"If they can dive like that, they can win at world championships or Olympic Games," Luo Yutong said.

With a new partner, Luo said he didn't expect to win the title, "Yet we had a pretty good competition and I am satisfied with the silver medal."

China also won the men's and women's team titles due to better results in individual and synchronised diving events.

China rest most of its top divers for the world championships to be held in Spain and fielded a mainly second-string and previncial team divers at Kazan Universiade.

Special report: Kazan Universiade, July 2013