China eye duets gold at synchronised swimming

Chinese pair - Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan - are favourite for synchronised swimming gold in the 17th Asian Games, following a strong performance in the semi-final in the duets, here Saturday at the Munhak Park Taw-hwan Aquatic Centre.

The Chinese achieved the highest score of 91.1851, leading second-placed Japanese synchronised swimmers Yokiko Inui and Risako Mitsui by 1.5130 points. The Chinese have topped in all three categories of executive, impression and elements, reports Xinhua.

Kazakhstan are currently in third place with 82.4306, ahead of North Korea with 82.1401.

"We delivered our best. It feels wonderful," said Huang of China.

Huang said she and her partner have been particularly paying attention to improving their strengths in the past six months when they have been practicing this new set of actions.

"This is a good pool. We adapt to ourselves quite quickly here," she said.

Synchronised swimming competitions are usually held in swimming pools where the underwater lines help swimmers locate themselves. Huang said there are underwater lights in the diving pool at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatic Center, enabling them clear vision beneath the surface.

The venue will see its first gold medal Saturday afternoon when duets free routine competition come to an end.