China unexpectedly swept the first two ping golds in Melbourne on Monday at the FINA World Championships, but Russia still leads the medal table after adding one to their already two-gold collection.
In the men's three-meter springboard synchronized1 final, newly-combined Wang Feng and Qin Kai overcame a fifth-ranked opening pe, then remained on the TOP position since the fourth rounds.
The Chinese duo finally clinched2 the opening ping gold medal with a score of 458.76 points.
Canadian pair Alexandre Despatie/Arturo Miranda, and German duo Tobias Schellenberg/Andreas Wels finished second and third respectively.
This final became uncommon3 not only because of the 25 minutes halt due to power failure, but also for Russian per Alexksandr Dobroskok's shocking failure.
Dobroskok won this event with legend Dmitri Sautin at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
But in Monday's final, the 24-year-old per failed to jump into the pool in the fourth round and came down the springboard without score.
In the last round, the seasoned per almost made a replay of the fourth round, watching his partner Gleb Galperin pe into the water alone.
The women's 10-meter platform synchronized ping final was not as dramatic.
The teenage pair Jia Tong and Chen Ruolin led since the first round and claimed the victory with a big margin4.
The home crowd enjoyed an amazing night as their 14-year-old sensation Melissa Wu grabbed the silver with partner Briony Cole. Their score of 324.00 points is 37.32 points lower than the gold-winning duo's.
Germany took another bronze as Annett Gamm and Nora Subschinski were placed third in the event.
Russia, having collected two golds on Sunday, clinched another gold through the effort of synchronized swimmer Natalia Ischenko.
Ischenko danced in the pool to pick up the first solo technical world title, followed by Spanish Gemma Mengual and Saho Harada from Japan.
Ischenko had tasted success in the free combination routine along with the dominant5 Russian team on Sunday.
The women's water polo teams competed in the first round preliminary on Monday. The defending champion Hungary was held to a tie with Italy at 8-8. The host team edged Canada 5-4.
In the team technical routine preliminary, traditional powerhouses Russia, Japan and Spain finished TOP three.
In Tuesday's competition, Russia is likely to sweep the two golds on offer, as the Anastasia pair are dominant in the duet technical routine and Larisa Ilchenko is the hot favorite to win in the women's 10km open water swim
