China's teen diver Zhang Jiaqi has won women's 10m platform at Fina Diving Grand Prix Singapore on 4 November, Saturday.
Zhang started her diving career at the age of seven, but her parents wanted her to be a gymnast in future. However, after getting rejected by her gymnastics coach, because of having an inappropriate body structure, her parents started looking for other sports options.
About six months ago the Chinese teen joined the national diving squad. It was the well-known trainer Ren Shaofen, who nurtured Zhang after joining the national academy. Shaofen was also the coach of the five-time Olympic gold medallist Chen Ruolin.
However, reports said that after the retirement of five-time Olympic gold medallist Wu Minxia in 2016 December, the 13-year-old Zhang would become China's next successful diver.
In 2017 September, she made her national debut at China's National Games. Zhang defeated 16-year-old Ren Qian in women's 10m synchronised event and won the title.
In the second day of Fina Diving Grand Prix, Zhang scored 400.75 points after six dives at the Singapore's OCBC Aquatic Centre.
In Kuala Lumpur, during the Fina Diving Grand Prix Zhang won a gold medal by achieving 409.58 points. It was her first international appearance where she disappointed Malaysian star Pandelela Rinong, who is an Olympian and eight-time gold medallist of Southeast Asian Games.
In Singapore, South Korea's Kim Yeong Nam achieved 474.70 points to become the winner in the 3m springboard final. On the same day, Kim won two more events, those are 10m synchronised platform and the mixed synchronised platform.
While on Saturday China's Peng Jianfeng scored 466.60 points and achieved the second position, his compatriot Liu Chengming managed to score 470.25 and became third in the 3m springboard event.
Although Singapore's Myra Lee and Timothy Lee both have failed to progress to the next round of their respective events, Singapore team fans are still hopeful about Timothy, who will be performing again in the synchronised 3m springboard along with his brother Mark on 5 November, Sunday.
