Having clinched gold and a spot at next year’s Tokyo Olympics 2020 at the Asian Diving Cup, national diver Jonathan Chan will come face to face once more against the man he defeated, China’s Wang Zewei, at the FINA Diving Grand Prix Singapore 2019 Presented by 100PLUS, taking place from November 22 to 24 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Chan, who became the first ever Singaporean diver to qualify for the Olympics, scored 407.90 points to better Wang’s score of 393.45 to create history in Kuala Lumpur in September.
“I am definitely relishing the opportunity to compete once again with Wang, and to pit myself against the other world class divers. Win or lose, it will be another learning experience for me as I prepare for the Olympics next year”, said the 22 year-old.
More than 60 divers, from 14 countries will be competing in Singapore, including first time participants, Austria, France, Switzerland and Puerto Rico. Mark and Timothy Lee will be competing alongside Jonathan for Singapore.
Among the star names who will wow the crowd in Singapore include
- 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist in the Women’s 10m Platform, Melissa Wu, of Australia. Wu was also silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 10m Synchronised Platform.
- 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists’ in the Women’s 3m Synchronised Springboard, Esther Qin and Georgia Sheehan, of Australia. Qin also won a bronze medal in the 1m Springboard at the same games and was champion in the 3m Springboard at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
- Huang Xiaohui of China, who won Silver at the 2014 Asian Games in the Women’s 10m Platform
- Lin Shan of China, who won the Team Event at the FINA World Championships 2019 in Gwangju
- Tai Xiaohu of China, the 2015 World Champion in the 10m Mixed Synchronised Platform event
- France’s 2017 European Diving Championships Gold Medallist and 2018 European Championships silver medallist in the 10m Platform, Benjamin Auffret
- Great Britain’s Benjamin Cutmore, 2018 European Junior Champion in the B Boys Platform
- Olena Fedorova, of Ukraine, the 2019 European Diving Championships silver medallist in the 1m Springboard
William Lee, Singapore Swimming Association’s Vice-President for Diving, said, “We are once again delighted to host the FINA Diving Grand Prix and thrilled to welcome a record number of world class divers from around the globe. It is also a very exciting time for our local fans to come and cheer for Jonathan Chan, who qualified for the 2020 Olympics! I am looking forward to three-days of awesome diving this November.”
Tickets for the FINA Diving Grand Prix Singapore 2019 Presented by 100PLUS are now on sale at www.sportshub.com.sg/finadiving.
For full competition schedule, please visit www.swimming.org.sg/FINADivingGP
Photo: SSA