By Michael Church, OCA Media
Tokyo, Japan, September 26, 2026: World champion duo Wang Zongyuan and Zheng Jiuyuan showed their class in the men’s synchronised 3 metre springboard on Saturday to claim China’s second gold of the opening day of the diving at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.
Wang and Zheng were in a league of their own with a total of 465.87 points, finishing ahead of Senri Ikuma and Haruki Suyama from Japan, who scored 355.56 points.
Malaysia’s Nurqayyan Mohamad and Rui Ji Yong were a further 9.75 points adrift taking the bronze.
“Overall, being able to win this precious gold medal is definitely very satisfying,” said Wang.
“However, during the routine, both of us made some small mistakes on the last two difficult dives. I think those two dives were the main areas where we fell a little short in the competition.”
The win was Wang’s third Asian Games gold medal after the 25-year-old stood on the top step of the podium in the 1 metre springboard event in Hangzhou three years ago while finishing ahead of Zheng in the 3 metre springboard.
In Tokyo the pair combined their talents to secure victory by well in excess of 100 points, impressing across a series of increasingly difficult dives.
Their most eye-catching came in the final round when, at a difficulty rating of 3.9, the pair executed a forward two-and-a-half somersaults and three twists with pike to earn 94.77 points and confirm their first place finish.
Ikuma and Suyama won the battle for silver with a consistent series of dives throughout the first five rounds, although a disappointing final dive that gathered 56.70 points almost allowed the Malaysia pair to move up from third.
“There were many aspects we need to reflect on in terms of the content, but in the end we were able to win the silver medal. I believe we were able to give momentum to Japan in diving,” said Suyama.
Yong and Mohamad had recovered from a disappointing opening round when they sat in seventh place to climb the rankings, with a successful inward two-and-a-half somersaults with pike in their third dive taking the pair up the standings and to the bronze medal.
““It’s really incredible,” said Yong. “It’s an incredible feeling because coming into this competition we had a lot of doubt about us. We use this medal to prove our worth.
“To be honest, we didn’t really expect to win this medal here. We just came here to enjoy it and see what we can do.”
