China spring to silver and gold?

Luo Yutong of China led the field by a wide margin at the end of the 1m springboard preliminary round, with compatriot Qin Kai 30.70 points behind in second place, and Japanese diver Ken Terauchi in third 61.30 adrift.

Luo Yutong of China was the favourite of this event. He won gold in the 1m and 3m springboard at the 2005 East Asian Games in Macau, China and finished second at the 2006 World Cup in Changshu.

Luo's winning form was on show to an amazing degree, with the diver scoring huge leads on every dive with the result, by dive five, that his 367.80 put him 88.25 points ahead of his nearest rival at that time, Suchart Pichi of Thailand (289.30, 2nd).

After all dives were completed Luo was still clear leader, with 443.70, and if he maintains that form he should win easily tonight. Qin Kai of China, who finished at the morning session with 413.00, should make it silver and gold for China.

Ken Terauchi of Japan, Luo's biggest rival, was a poor 10th by the fifth dive. Indeed, it was hard to believe Terauchi claimed bronze at the 2005 East Asian Games or that he was a finalist in the 3m Springboard event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The diver redeemed himself by the end of the round, however, and finished with 382.40, 38.70 points ahead of next nearest rival, Pichi Suchart of Thailand, so he should be in for a bronze.

Southeast Asian Games champion Yeoh Ken Nee of Malaysia was also aiming for a medal, but after the fifth dive he was at 187.10, or 13th place, and though he later recovered, he still ended the day at ninth place with 320.60, or 123.10 points behind the leadre.

It's a disappointing dive for Yeoh. He already has two Asian Games medals from the 3m springboard and the 3m springboard synchronised at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, but for now there is little chance of that here.

Others hopefuls include Oh Yi Taek of Korea (310.85, 11th) and Khairul Safwan Mansur of Malaysia (338.30, 5th) . Almost all divers are likely to make it through to the finals after this morning's preliminary session, except for Qataris Al Nuaimi Mubarak Al Nuaimi and Abdulla Safar who both retired. Danil Votyakov of Uzbekistan failed to get through.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006