News

Synchro World Trophy

December 1, 2012 MEXICO CITY - The softness of Chinese folk songs and the energy of the samurai highlighted the second day of the 7th FINA Synchro World Trophy, marked by very creative routines. On day 2, the Chinese team received again very high scores for their near-perfect performance. The team (Or Liu, Xi Luo, Xuechen Huang, Wu Ywen, Jiachen Fan, Lele Yu Xiaoujun chen, Wenyan One, Si Chang and Li Guo) totalled a winning score of 96.338.

The Chinese swimmers transformed the pool into a dance floor, thrilling both the judges and audience with the mega hit song "Gagnam Style". The Japanese filled the pool with mystery when they climbed on the deck dressed as samurai using features such as dry ice.

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World Youth Water Polo Championships

December 1, 2012 PERTH - Class play from some of the best 18 and under men’s water polo teams in the world was on display at Perth’s Challenge Stadium on Saturday. It was the opening day of what is billed as the 1st FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships and the young men started the tournament with women following on Sunday.

It is the second time this age group has contested world championships following the 2009 events in Croatia and Russia and won by the host nations in what were declared as World Junior Championships, due to an age group change. These championships continue the long tradition of Challenge Stadium hosting FINA events with the FINA Championships of 1991 and 1998 paramount. It has also hosted two junior women’s world championships (2001 and 2005), a women’s World Cup (2003), the FINA Masters’ Worlds (2008) and the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament for men in 1988 soon after the venue opened.

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Synchro World Trophy

November 30, 2012 MEXICO CITY - The seventh edition of the FINA Synchronised Swimming World Trophy started with all the energy and "plasticity" of the Synchro highlight routines and thematic duets. All participating countries - Russia, China, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Ukraine - will present at the Mexican Olympic Sports Centre pool a show that keeps getting more and more spectacular since the competition was firstly launched in 2006. More specifically, the use of accessories is allowed and time on deck can exceed 10 seconds. All of these aspects without sacrificing the technique of the sport.

Asia dominated the first event of the competition, the Synchro Highlight routine, with China (95.788 points) and Japan (95.238 points) finishing on top, showing very different styles. While the Chinese chose to use at the same time delicacy and vigor in their birds-themed routine, the Japanese used several accessories and their theatrical skills in a daring choreography that featured an armed dispute by power. Both teams displayed creativity and a high degree of difficulty in their routine.

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World Youth Water Polo Championships

Most of the 34 teams have arrived in Perth for the first-ever FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships. These championships are for the best 18 and under players in the world and it is the second time this age group has been staged — the first boys’ and girls’ championships with Croatia boys winning in Sibenik, Croatia and Russia girls winning in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — both in 2009.

This is the first time that a junior water polo event has seen both gender categories playing at the same venue at the same time. We will wade through 118 matches in 10 days with some days throwing up 16 matches, keeping athletes and officials busy.

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Barcelona 2013

November 22, 2012 Barcelona. Event organisers of the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona next year welcomed the delegates from various national and international TV stations to the World Broadcasting Meeting (WBM). The TV representatives that have the broadcasting rights for next year’s major sporting event visited the competition venues at the Palau Sant Jordi.

The TV delegates participating at the WBM have visited four competition venues: Moll de la Fusta (open water swimming and high diving), Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc (diving), Piscinas Picornell (water polo) and Palau Sant Jordi (swimming, synchronised swimming and the finals of the water polo tournaments). The event is the first big meeting organised ahead of the World Championships.

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Swimming World Cup

November 11, 2012 SINGAPORE - Kenneth To (AUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) were crowned as new champions of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, whose 2012 edition concluded in Singapore (SIN) on November 10-11. Both the Australian and Hungarian swimmers were in the lead of the men’s and women’s ranking before the last leg and just confirmed their credentials in the final meet of the competition. To was even the best performer in Singapore, winning the 100m individual medley on Day 1, in a time of 51.50 (957 points), while Hosszu got the second best performance among women, finishing second (2:06.78, 949 points) to her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos in the 200m IM. Both for To and Hosszu, this was their first success in the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup.

“I was confident of winning (the overall title) after winning the 100 metre individual medley (IM) last night. It was difficult today, not being able to sleep last night. I was very happy, very excited,” To said.

“This is my first time doing the entire series, and it’s been an amazing experience. It taught me how to back up race after race, and how to perform whenever it’s needed. Picking up the wins along the way helped boost my confidence, knowing that I can perform in any situation thrown at me. My goal for now is to make the Australian team for the world long course championships in Barcelona next year. That will be my major target,” he concluded.

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Swimming World Cup

November 10, 2012 SINGAPORE - The leaders of the overall ranking of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012 confirmed their will to get the US$100,000 prize money back home after the first day of the eighth and final meet of the series in Singapore (SIN). Among men, Kenneth To (AUS) was the most “valuable” swimmer of the finals’ session winning the gold in the 100m individual medley duel with George Bovell (TRI). Thanks to his 51.50, To got 957 points, the best performance of the day, and practically assured his victory in 2012, as he was leading the scoring before Singapore with 145 points against 125 for Bovell. The star of Trinidad and Tobago was only the third best performer of the session, with his second place in that event (946 points for a time of 51.69).

In the women’s field, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) had an enormous advance over her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos (146 points against 79) before the last leg of the circuit and in Singapore was the second best performer precisely behind her main challenger – in the 200m individual medley duel, Jakabos won in 2:06.41 (957 points), while Hosszu was second in 2:06.78 (949). The latter is therefore the virtual winner of the 2012 edition before the last day of the competition on November 11.

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Gold Medal Clinic

The 1st FINA Gold Medal Swimming Coaches Clinic concluded successfully with more than 200 swimming coaches from a hundred nations. The golden opportunity to exchange ideas, experience and knowledge with top-level coaches from swimming powerhouses like USA, Australia or China was praised by many participants.

The coaches attending the clinic were offered a wide range of visions of coaching, practical training cycles, personal experiences, motivation tips for swimmers, and many pieces of advice on the balance between training and life outside the pool and the relationship between a coach and his athlete.

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Swimming World Cup

November 7, 2012 TOKYO - Katinka Hosszu (HUN) collected two more gold medals in the final day of the seventh leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012, which concluded in Tokyo (JPN) on November 7. After three victories on Day 1, the Magyar champion has now an accumulated total of 35 gold medals in this year’s series, being the most successful athlete of the competition.

Hosszu dominated the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:05.90 and the 400m individual medley in 4:28.14, leaving in both cases her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos with the silver medal. Moreover, Hosszu consolidated her lead in the overall ranking of the World Cup, and now, before the last leg in Singapore, she can only lose the title in one circumstance: if Jakabos establishes a new World Record in Singapore and she is not in the first 10 ranked swimmers of the meet. A very remote possibility given the regularity of Hosszu throughout the entire circuit.

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Swimming World Cup

November 6, 2012 TOKYO - Japan’s Daiya Seto was the swimmer in evidence in the first day of the seventh leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012, being held in Tokyo (JPN) on November 6-7, after establishing a new record of the competition in the men’s 400m individual medley. The 18-year-old athlete touched home in 4:00.02, bettering the previous World Cup record (4:00.12) he had set in the fifth meet of the series in Berlin (GER). Moreover, it was Seto’s sixth win in this event throughout the 2012 circuit – the Japanese star was not present in Beijing (CHN).

Still among men, Stanislav Donets (RUS) got the most valuable performance of this inaugural day in Tokyo, winning the 100m backstroke in a good time of 49.49 (worth 967 points). Donets is also dominating this event in 2012, being his fifth victory (and the fastest) in the World Cup – his previous best time had been set in Moscow (RUS), in 49.74. Also in good shape, Kazuya Kaneda (JPN) comfortably won the 200m butterfly, clocking 1:51.08 for the gold. It was also the fastest winning time of 2012 in this event, after a previous 1:51.22 effort of Kaneda in Beijing. At home, this good result gave him the second most valuable performance of the day in the men’s field (947 points).

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