Russia's Natalia Ishchenko scooped her 12th world championships gold medal as she combined with Svetlana Romashina to win the synchronized swimming duets technical competition Monday. The 25-year-old Ishchenko, who won her third successive solo technical gold Sunday, dazzled to an upbeat jungle-themed routine with heavy drum rhythms and animal calls to help score 98.20 points, which brought an audible gasp from the small crowd that bounced around the Oriental Sports Centre. China's Huang Xuechen, who clinched silver behind Ishchenko in the solo competition, was second with Liu Ou on 96.50. Spain's Andrea Fuentes won her second bronze of the championships after she and Ona Carbonell combined to a techno pop version of the “Crazy Frog” to score 95.40 points. Ishchenko said she and Romashina would continue to work together at the London Olympics next year. “We will participate in the Olympic Games. We will work but we can't say the goal,” Ishchenko told reporters. Meanwhile, China doubled its gold medal haul in diving events. Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao dominated the women's 10m platform synchro, shortly after Li Shixin and He Min's brave one-two in the men's 1m springboard, giving China all four diving titles so far. Chen won her third straight world title in the event after amassing 362.58 points with Wang, with Australian Olympic silver-medallist Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak second and Germans Christin Steuer and Nora Subschinski third. “I think the top three teams all could have won, it just depends on who performs the best,” said Chen. “I never think too much during the competition, or my performance will be affected.” After three days of competition China have won not only every title, but also every heat at Shanghai's open-air Crescent Lagoon venue, putting them on course to become the first country to win all 10 diving gold medals. In the men's event, Li Shixin stormed back from a ragged dive three to clinch first place, while compatriot He Min clawed his way from fourth to second spot, leap-frogging Germany's Pavlo Rozenberg with his very last plunge. Li's messy entry on the third of his six dives, a reverse 2.5 somersault in the pike position, looked to open the door to Rozenberg. But the 23-year-old nailed his last three dives to finish with 463.90 points. Meanwhile He saved his best for last as he pulled off a precision inward 2.5 somersault in the pike for 81.60 points, pushing Rozenberg into the bronze medal position. The climax of the competition was briefly interrupted when Mexico's Daniel Islas crashed his right foot painfully against the board during his final dive, and left the pool deck in a wheelchair. China won seven out of eight titles at the Beijing Olympics and another seven from 10 at the 2009 worlds in Rome, raising hopes that the sweep is on despite the retirement of “diving queen” Guo Jingjing. Water polo is also under way at the 16-day, biennial championships, with the blue-riband swimming events kicking off Sunday.
