Russian divers claim silver at Moscow World Series

Moscow, April 26 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Viktor Minibaev and Artyom Chesakov took a 10-metre platform silver at the fourth stage of the Diving World Series here Friday.

The Russians notched up 426.45 points, losing only to China's 2008 Olympic champion duo of Lin Yue and Chen Aisen, who won by a massive 44.73 point margin.

Despite finishing second, Minibaev and Chesakov extended their overall series lead to 99 points after the Cuban duo of Jose Guerra and Jeinkler Aguirre finished third in Moscow.

In the women's category, Si Yajie and Liu Huixia of China won a fourth successive stage by taking the 10-metre platform event, stretching their lead in the overall standings to 21 points over Russian pair Yulia Koltunova and Natalia Goncharova.

Koltunova and Goncharova had to settle for the bronze after the Malaysian pair of Leong Mun Yee and Pandelela Rinong finished just 2.64 points off the Chinese.

The three metre springboard event is later on Friday.

The World Series, a high-profile competition attracting the world's top stars, has been held since 2007 and consists of six stages hosted by Britain, China, Mexico, Russia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The prize fund of each stage is $96,000, with the overall winner of each category taking home $10,000 at the end of the season.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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