The one-man show continued at the Dr. S.P. Mukherjee aquatics complex here for a third day running. On Tuesday, there was some dramatic moments as well before the Canadian superstar, Alexandre Despatie notched up his ninth gold medal of his Commonwealth Games career, now into the fourth edition.
The 25-year-old and his partner Reuben Ross, after leading all the way through the initial four rounds of the men's 3m synchronised springboard final, was suddenly overtaken by the Australian pair of Matthew Mitcham and Ethan Warren in the fifth, leaving all wondering on how the Canadians would react.
Mitcham and Warren had a good final round too as they scored 79.20 points to open up the lead against their rivals. But Despatie and Ross were not to be denied as they uncorked a superb dive – an inward three-and-a-half somersault which even seemed to have left the judges speechless.
The return of 90.78s points was the result of this well-executed effort, laced with near perfection in both execution and synchronisation, and this was enough for the Canadian pair to nail the gold medal, with a margin of 5.70 points over the Australians. The winning total of Despatie and Ross was a whopping 430.35 points, even as the Malaysian pairing of Bryan Nickson Lomas and Ken Nee Yeoh took the bronze with a tally of 404.64 points.
Another gold
Canada won another gold medal during the course of the day when Abel Jennifer struck it rich in the women's 1m springboard final. Jennifer was always in command all through this final as she hit the top of the podium with 301.75 points, ahead of Australia's Sharleen Stratton (299.15) and her team-mate Emilie Heymans (296.10).
S.P. Hrutika of India was once again disappointing as she finished 12th and last with a paltry total of 166.95 points.
In the morning session, the men's 10m synchronised platform was won by the English pair of Tom Daley and Max Brick, who finished with 439.65 points, ahead of the Australian duo of Mitcham and Warren (423.61). With only four teams in the fray, the bronze medal was not awarded.
It was clarified that the Games regulations did stipulate that there should have been five teams, instead of four present, for the medal to have been distributed. There was no bronze winner in the 2006 Melbourne Games either.
