China's Qiu equals Louganis record

By Rod Gilmour KAZAN, Russia, Aug 2 - Qiu Bo equalled the great Greg Louganis’s feat of three world titles on Sunday as China finished with 10 medals to underline their domination of the diving competition at the world championships. With 13 titles on offer this year due to an extended programme, China failed to match their clean sweep of 10 medals at the 2011 championships in Shanghai. But China’s nine world medals in Barcelona was bettered when Qiu won 10 metres platform gold ahead of American David Boudia who finished behind his arch-rival for the third world championships in a row. Qiu overtook Boudia in the third round before saving his best dive to the last -- 107.30 points with a 3.7 degree of difficulty -- to equal Louganis’a three consecutive victories for the United States between 1978 and 1986. The Chinese finished with 587.00 points, Olympic champion Boudia took silver with 560.20 and Britain Tom Daley claimed bronze. "This victory means a lot to me,” the 22-year-old Qiu told reporters. “I made almost no mistakes but I will try to improve. I hope that I will perform better at the Olympics.” The diving programme was notable for Kim Kuk-hyang winning North Korea’s first ever world aquatic championships title. The 16-year-old took gold in the women's individual 10m platform final with China's Ren Qian, 14, winning silver. Quin Kai became the first male diver to win five gold medals in a world championship event after claiming the 3m synchronised springboard with partner Cao Yuan. A mixed team event also featured for the first time. The format saw one male and one female diver perform individually on both the 3m springboard and 10m platform. Daley and partner Rebecca Gallantree took gold. It was the first of four medals for Britain who finished behind China’s table-topping tally of 15. (Editing by Ed Osmond)