Italian Long Course Nationals: Federica Pellegrini , Samuel Pizzetti Post Runner-Up World Rankings

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-RICCIONE, Italy, April 13. THE Italian Long Course Nationals kicked off today with a trio of top-five world ranked times in Riccione. 

Federica Pellegrini raced to victory in the women's 400 free with a strong time of 4:03.49. That swim stands second in the world rankings behind only Rebecca Adlington's 4:02.84 from British Nationals in March. Martina De Memme placed a distant second tonight in 4:12.05, while Alice Nesti earned third in 4:13.67. 

Samuel Pizzetti clocked a 7:49.79 to win the men's 800 free, and move to second in the world rankings behind Sun Yang's 7:44.12 from Chinese Nationals this month. Luca Baggio touched second in 7:56.71, while Rocco Potenza wound up third in 8:01.20. 

Luca Dotto hit the wall in 48.58 for the men's 100 free title. That effort pushed him to fourth in the world rankings behind James Magnussen (48.29), Fabien Gilot (48.34) and William Meynard (48.57). Filippo Magnini finished second in 49.10, while Marco Orsi took third in 49.34. 

Mattie Pesce jumped to seventh in the world rankings in the men's 50 breast with a time of 27.87, while Fabio Scozzoli turned in a second-place time of 27.90 for an eighth-place tie in the world rankings. Nicolo Ossola claimed third in 28.10. 

Caterina Giacchetti captured the women's 200 fly title in 2:09.84, while Alessia Polieri finished second in 2:10.17, while Stefanie Pirozzi grabbed third in 2:11.19. Elena Gemo picked up the women's 100 back title in 1:01.22, while Carlotta Zofkova touched a close second in 1:01.53. Arianna Barbieri placed third in 1:10.89. Mirco Di Tora claimed the men's 100 back crown in 54.42, while Stefano Pizzamiglio took second in 55.40. Fabio Laugeni earned third-place honors in 55.56. 

In relay action, Silvia Copetta, Alice Carpanese, Alice Mizzau and Giada Trentin won the women's 400 free relay in 3:45.86 (swimming world)

DIVING WORLD SERIES: Sheffield, Day 2: China completes clean sweep on day two

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-The final day of competition at the FINA/Midea Diving World Series saw the Chinese diving team re-affirm their dominance of international diving. The Chinese team secured gold in all four events on the second day in Sheffield, setting a marker for the diving world ahead of the World Championships in Shanghai this summer.

The Chinese team secured gold in all four events on the second day in Sheffield, setting a marker for the diving world ahead of the World Championships in Shanghai this summer.

The men’s 10m Platform, the sport’s blue riband event, saw elite diving at its best from all competitors throughout the competition.

China’s Qui Bo, who scored more than 600 points in the first two legs of this season’s World Series, looked on good form from his first dive, scoring 91.20.

His Armstand Back Triple Somersault piked saw him score six 10s as the crowd cheered his exit from the water.

Britain’s Tom Daley started the final well and lay in second place after the first two rounds but a mistake on his Armstand Back Triple Somersaults piked saw him lose ground, falling to the bottom of the leader board.

Daley picked up with his next two dives and while the podium places proved out of reach, he scored a season’s best 507.35 to finish fourth overall.

“To be able to get my highest score of the season when missing a dive for 5s and 5.5s is quite nice,” Daley said. “Obviously I am disappointed with one of my dives but I have just got to make sure I can try to improve and focus for my next competition in Mexico.

“My new dives are going quite well at the moment. I scored 9.5s for me Back 3.5 which is the best that I have done internationally. Overall I am really pleased with this weekend. My dives were a bit inconsistent in Moscow and Beijing so to come here and do so well has given me a bit of confidence for this season.”

Bo continued his excellence and he won gold with 586.55 points. His teammate Huo Liang captured silver with a score of 561.70 while USA’s David Boudia won bronze with a score of 534.55.

Peter Waterfield missed out on his place in the final by just 0.6 points after finishing fourth in his semi-final with a total of 468.15.

After making his return from an anterior cruciate ligament tear early last year, the British crowd cheered on Ben Swain as he made his return to competition with Nicholas Robinson-Baker in the 3m Synchro.

The British pair secured a respectable 100.80 points for their required dives and went into the third round in a strong position but it was the Chinese pair of Qin Kai and Luo Yutong that were dominating early on.

Kai and Yuntong were within reaching distance of the gold medal after their fourth dive and while they dropped their penultimate dive, they recovered with their final effort, scoring 9s to take gold with 460.23.

Silver went to Yahel Castillo and Daniel Islas (Mexico) with a score of 451.71 and the American pair of Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen scored 425.73 to take bronze.

Robinson-Baker and Swain finished seventh with a total of 395.88.

“I am feeling good after that performance,” Swain said. “I really wanted to do better but I got through the whole list without pain for the first time.

“It was great to be back on the boards with Nick again. It has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done to come back from injury and it felt really good to be in front of the home crowd.”

The women’s 10m Synchro saw Chinese pair, Roulin Chen and Hao Wang, secure the gold with a twenty point lead on the field.

Chen and Wang took an impressive 347.46 points to take the victory ahead of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion (Canada).

Chen said after the win: “The first two dives we have are easy ones and then our coach told us to get more focused to do much better. We aren’t always confident about winning the competition but we are good competitors and we try hard to compete our best.”

Benfeito and Filion finished with 325.71 for the silver while Australia’s Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak took bronze with 325.26 points.

Britain’s Rebecca Gallantree and Megan Sylvester finished in fifth place with a score of 294.90. They showed impressive synchronicity after just two training sessions together.

He Zi won her second individual gold of this season’s FINA/Midea Diving World Series in the 3m Springboard after putting in a consistent performance throughout the final.

She was the only diver in the final to score a 10 and put the competition out of reach with her penultimate dive, scoring 82.50 for an excellent Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults piked.

Zi finished with a total of 396.95 to win gold. Silver went to her team-mate Minxia Wu who took a total of 370.35 while Canada’s Jennifer Abel scored 341.40 for bronze.

Gallantree finished in sixth place in the second semi-final with a score of 263.60The final day of competition at the FINA/Midea Diving World Series saw the Chinese diving team re-affirm their dominance of international diving. The Chinese team secured gold in all four events on the second day in Sheffield, setting a marker for the diving world ahead of the World Championships in Shanghai this summer.

The men’s 10m Platform, the sport’s blue riband event, saw elite diving at its best from all competitors throughout the competition. China’s Qui Bo, who scored more than 600 points in the first two legs of this season’s World Series, looked on good form from his first dive, scoring 91.20. His Armstand Back Triple Somersault piked saw him score six 10s as the crowd cheered his exit from the water.

Britain’s Tom Daley started the final well and lay in second place after the first two rounds but a mistake on his Armstand Back Triple Somersaults piked saw him lose ground, falling to the bottom of the leader board. Daley picked up with his next two dives and while the podium places proved out of reach, he scored a season’s best 507.35 to finish fourth overall.

“To be able to get my highest score of the season when missing a dive for 5s and 5.5s is quite nice,” Daley said. “Obviously I am disappointed with one of my dives but I have just got to make sure I can try to improve and focus for my next competition in Mexico.

“My new dives are going quite well at the moment. I scored 9.5s for me Back 3.5 which is the best that I have done internationally. Overall I am really pleased with this weekend. My dives were a bit inconsistent in Moscow and Beijing so to come here and do so well has given me a bit of confidence for this season.”

Bo continued his excellence and he won gold with 586.55 points. His teammate Huo Liang captured silver with a score of 561.70 while USA’s David Boudia won bronze with a score of 534.55.

Peter Waterfield missed out on his place in the final by just 0.6 points after finishing fourth in his semi-final with a total of 468.15. After making his return from an anterior cruciate ligament tear early last year, the British crowd cheered on Ben Swain as he made his return to competition with Nicholas Robinson-Baker in the 3m Synchro.

The British pair secured a respectable 100.80 points for their required dives and went into the third round in a strong position but it was the Chinese pair of Qin Kai and Luo Yutong that were dominating early on.

Kai and Yuntong were within reaching distance of the gold medal after their fourth dive and while they dropped their penultimate dive, they recovered with their final effort, scoring 9s to take gold with 460.23.

Silver went to Yahel Castillo and Daniel Islas (Mexico) with a score of 451.71 and the American pair of Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen scored 425.73 to take bronze.

Robinson-Baker and Swain finished seventh with a total of 395.88.

“I am feeling good after that performance,” Swain said. “I really wanted to do better but I got through the whole list without pain for the first time.

“It was great to be back on the boards with Nick again. It has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done to come back from injury and it felt really good to be in front of the home crowd.”

The women’s 10m Synchro saw Chinese pair, Roulin Chen and Hao Wang, secure the gold with a twenty point lead on the field. Chen and Wang took an impressive 347.46 points to take the victory ahead of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion (Canada).

Chen said after the win: “The first two dives we have are easy ones and then our coach told us to get more focused to do much better. We aren’t always confident about winning the competition but we are good competitors and we try hard to compete our best.”

Benfeito and Filion finished with 325.71 for the silver while Australia’s Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak took bronze with 325.26 points.

Britain’s Rebecca Gallantree and Megan Sylvester finished in fifth place with a score of 294.90. They showed impressive synchronicity after just two training sessions together.

He Zi won her second individual gold of this season’s FINA/Midea Diving World Series in the 3m Springboard after putting in a consistent performance throughout the final. She was the only diver in the final to score a 10 and put the competition out of reach with her penultimate dive, scoring 82.50 for an excellent Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults piked. Zi finished with a total of 396.95 to win gold. Silver went to her team-mate Minxia Wu who took a total of 370.35 while Canada’s Jennifer Abel scored 341.40 for bronze.

Gallantree finished in sixth place in the second semi-final with a score of 263.60 (British Swimming)

Enam Perenang Diharapkan Lolos ke Kejuaraan Dunia

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-Semarang: Sebanyak enam perenang Indonesia diharapkan lolos dan tampil pada kejuaraan dunia di Shanghai, China, 14-22 Juli 2011, kata Pelatih Kepala Pelatnas SEA Games, Hartadi Nurjojo.

"Saya kira dari 28 perenang yang saat ini menghuni pelatnas SEA Games XXVI, enam perenang berpeluang menembus limit waktu kejuaraan dunia," katanya di Semarang, Ahad (17/4).
Ia menyebutkan, enam perenang tersebut adalah Glenn Victor, Nicko Biondi, Siman Sudartawan, Indra Gunawan, Priadi Fauzi, dan M. Akbar Nasution.

"Prestasi dan catatan waktu yang mereka tempuh akhir-akhir ini menunjukkan peningkatan yang berarti sehingga peluang lolos kejuaraan dunia di China mendatang terbuka lebar," katanya.
Hartadi Nurjojo yang juga Ketua Bidang Pembinaan dan Prestasi Pengprov PRSI Jawa Tengah itu mengatakan, perenang Indonesia harus mengikuti babak kualifikasi untuk bisa menembus limit waktu kejuraan dunia tersebut.

Ia menyebutkan, dua even renang internasional yang bakal menjadi ajang kualifikasi kejuaraan dunia yaitu kejuaran renang Taiwan Terbuka dan Jepang Terbuka.

"Pekan depan kita akan konsultasi dengan induk organisasi renang di Tanah Air, even mana yang akan diikuti perenang Indonesia dengan melihat peluang terbesar," katanya.

Ia mengemukakan, limit waktu untuk kejuaraan dunia sama dengan limit waktu untuk Olimpiade 2012 di London, Inggris.

"Kalau kita mampu menembus limit waktu kejuaraan dunia berarti kita juga bisa lolos ke Olimpiade," katanya.

Hartadi Nurjojo yang mantan Manajer Tim Renang Asian Games 2010 itu mengatakan, dua even di Taiwan dan Jepang tersebut juga sebagai ajang kualifikasi untuk Olimpiade 2012.

Kejuaraan dunia tersebut, katanya, juga sebagai ajang uji coba perenang sebelum diterjunkan pada SEA Games XXVI di Sumatra Selatan dan DKI Jakarta, November 2011.

"Sasaran kita tetap pada SEA Games mendatang karena kita sebagai tuan rumah tentunya harus bisa meraih prestasi maksimal," katanya.

Saat ini empat perenang Indonesia berlatih di Australia yaitu Glenn Victor, Priadi Fauzi, Idham Dasuki, dan M. Akbar Nasution, sedangkan Indra Gunawan berlatih di Hongaria.(Ant/RIZ/ Metrotvnews.com)

South Africa Long Course Championships: Charl Bouwer Lowers Disability World Record, Cameron van der Burgh Clocks Fastest 50 Breast in World

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, April 15. CHARL Bouwer turned up the tempo as he posted a thrilling finish and broke a world record on the fifth day of the Telkom SA National Senior and Youth Championships at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth earlier this evening. Three more swimmers added their names to the qualification list for Shanghai.

There was no stopping Cameron van der Burgh as he raced to his second A qualifying time. He booked his place to Shanghai in the 100m breaststroke on Thursday and added the 50m breaststroke A qualifying time tonight. Van der Burgh's fast time of 27.24 saw him claim the gold, almost a second ahead of Neil Versfeld, who ended with a time of 28.15. Giulio Zorzi was third in 28.46.

Kwa-Zulu Natal's Charl Crous finished with a phenomenal time of 55.08 in the 100m backstroke, securing his place to the FINA World Championships while Gerhard Zandberg came second in 55.58 and Darren Murray in third with a time of 55.84. 

In the 200m individual medley showdown, Darian Townsend took a lead throughout the race and clocked an A qualifying time of 1:59.06 ahead of Sebastien Rousseau in 2:01.42 and Chad le Clos in 2:02.11.

Chad le Clos grabbed the gold in the 100m butterfly in 53.51 followed by Heinrich Alberts in 54.12 and Garth Tune in 54.39. In the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, it was golden girl Karin Prinsloo who once again made the top of the podium with a time of 26.08 and 29.18 respectively.

Natasha de Vos finished first in both the 200m backstroke and 400m freestyle with a time of 2:15.88 and 4:22.62 respectively, while Suzaan van Biljon walked away with the 100m breaststroke title in 1:10.37.

Wendy Trott won her third gold medal in as many days when she ended with a time of 4:11.97 in the 400m freestyle.

Western Province's Paralympian, Charl Bouwer brought the crowd to life when he broke his own multi-disability World record in the 1500m freestyle S13 category in today's morning heats. Bouwer's time was 16:36.31, shedding 0.06 seconds off his previous record. The final for the 1500m freestyle will take place on Friday evening where he will be up against the likes of Heerden Herman, Mark Randall and Chad Ho.

In the evening final multi-disability 50m freestyle race S13, Bouwer claimed the gold in a time of 24.92 ahead of Kevin Paul in 25.85 and Sean Clarke in 26.41, while Craig Groenewald collected the gold in the S14 category of the 50m freestyle with a time of 26.52, Challis Wright was second in 26.72 and Valentino Vergotine in third with 29.37.

The multi-disability golden girls Shireen Sapiro and Yvonne Smith both won their races in the 50m freestyle S10 and S14 categories respectively, while Dianne Saunders won the SB7 50m breaststroke title with a time of 47.55. In the SB5 50m breaststroke race, Paralympian Tadhg Slattery took the gold in 44.77.

In the youth session of the competition, Michaela Barnes was the winner in the 200m backstroke in 2:20.87, while Reynard Wessels took the gold in the 50m freestyle in 23.36 and Marco Husselmann walked away with the gold in the 200m individual medley in 2:06.47.

The synchro 16-18 age group solo gold medal went to Jessica Broughton from the Eastern Province while Nicola David from the Western Province claimed the silver with the bronze going to Lara Lindeque from KZN. The senior section winner was Laura Strugnell, Emma Manners-Wood coming in second and Jennifer Woker in third.

The final day of the Telkom SA National Senior and Youth Swimming Championships will take place tomorrow at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth with the heats starting at 09h00 and the finals beginning at 18h00.

List of A Qualification Times:
Wendy Trott – 800 and 1500m freestyle
Michelle Weber – 1500m freestyle
Chad le Clos – 200m butterfly
Gerhard Zandberg – 50m backstroke
Roland Schoeman – 50m butterfly
Cameron van der Burgh – 50 and 100m breaststroke
Vanessa Mohr – 100m butterfly
Riaan Schoeman – 400m individual medley
Heerden Herman – 800m freestyle
Mark Randall – 800m freestyle
Charl Crous – 100m backstroke
Darian Townsend – 200m individual medley

Sumber:swimmingworldmagazine

DIVING WORLD SERIES: Sheffield, Day 1: Daley and Waterfield conquer world’s best for gold

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-Thomas Daley and Peter Waterfield had a sell out Sheffield crowd on their feet as they stormed to 10m Synchro gold in the FINA/Midea Diving World Series.

In only their second international competition together, the British duo held off five of the world’s top pairs to claim victory with 449.43 points.

Daley and Waterfield performed steady required dives and lay in fourth place after the first two rounds. As the competition entered the optional dives, the harder phase of the competition, the pair held their nerve to perform consistently.

Their Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked dive is the hardest dive in their list and scored 8s and 9s to move into the lead ahead of the China’s World Cup champions Yuan Cao and Yanquang Zhang with one round to go.

The Brits scored 92.88 on their final dive, the Back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists piked, to hold onto their lead and when the Chinese pair dropped their final dive Daley and Waterfield cheered their win.

“We are so happy to have won that gold in only our second international competition,” Daley said. “It is great to see that our partnership is improving every time we compete. Our hardest dive the Front 4 ½ was one of the best that we have done. We are lucky we have natural timing but we missed our first two optional dives and we want to improve that a lot.”

“We are going to Mexico and the World Championships next,” Waterfield said. “It is a new partnership but we seem to be working well together. The 4 ½ is our newest dive but it saved us today so we are both glad that we are using.”

Cao and Zhang ultimately won silver with 443.82 and bronze went to Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding (Germany) with a total of 427.59.

China’s Qin Kai struck gold to continue his domination of this season’s men’s 3m Springboard event.

Defending World Series Champion Kai – who won both previous legs in Moscow and Beijing this term – took over the lead at the half way point and never looked back on the way to scoring 547.70.

Kai’s fifth dive was the highlight of the set as he scored 106.40 for Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked. China’s Olympic and World Champion He Chong finished second with 531.15 while USA’s Troy Dumais took bronze with 507.65.

“I am happy to win the gold,” Kai said. “I have now had many chances to practice my Front 4 ½ dive and it is becoming more stable. I learnt the dive a year ago and a few months ago I was still having some problems with it but it is getting much better now.”

Great Britain’s double world junior champion Jack Laugher impressed to score an international pb of 436.90.

And while his score would have been good enough to progress from the first semi-final, he missed out on qualification from his semi by an agonising 14 points.

Zi He and Minxia Wu dominated the women’s 3m Synchro with a performance that saw them score consistently throughout the five rounds.

After the required dives the Chinese pair had a total of 107.40 points and their highest scoring dive came in the fourth round.

The pair, that also won the gold in the Beijing leg of the event, executed their Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults piked scored a total of 80.10 points as they moved twenty points into the lead.

He and Wu finished with a total of 334.20 points to win their gold. Canada’s Jennifer Abel and Emilie

Heymans won the silver with a score of 315.00 while Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape (Italy) took bronze with 303.60 points.

Rebecca Gallantree and Alicia Blagg were competing in their first leg of the series together and secured fifth place with a score of 294.00.

“That performance felt really good,” Gallantree said. “It was the first time we performed that list internationally, after adding a more difficult dive, and we’re both really pleased with the score.

“That’s our best result since the Commonwealth Games and shows, at an early stage in the season, how far we’ve come as a pair. Diving here in Sheffield is an amazing experience in front of a sell out crowd and they kept us focused throughout.”

Blagg added: “The home crowd was amazing and just fed my adrenalin. I was very nervous before but didn’t let them get the better of me and affect my performance. There were a lot of positives to take from that performance.”

China’s World Cup champion Hu Yadan struck gold in the last event of the night – the women’s 10m Platform.

The final was a straight shoot-out between Hu and Olympic champion Chen Ruolin with both divers adopting the same list.

But Hu stormed to victory over her more experienced rival, outscoring Chen on all five dives to win with 442.00 with her teammate finishing on 408.60.

Mexico’s world champion Paola Espinosa picked up bronze with her score of 356.10.

Great Britain’s Jenny Cowen held off the nerves on her World Series debut to score 297.50 for seventh place overall.

Thomas Daley and Peter Waterfield had a sell out Sheffield crowd on their feet as they stormed to 10m Synchro gold in the FINA/Midea Diving World Series. In only their second international competition together, the British duo held off five of the world’s top pairs to claim victory with 449.43 points. Daley and Waterfield performed steady required dives and lay in fourth place after the first two rounds. As the competition entered the optional dives, the harder phase of the competition, the pair held their nerve to perform consistently.

Their Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked dive is the hardest dive in their list and scored 8s and 9s to move into the lead ahead of the China’s World Cup champions Yuan Cao and Yanquang Zhang with one round to go. The Brits scored 92.88 on their final dive, the Back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists piked, to hold onto their lead and when the Chinese pair dropped their final dive Daley and Waterfield cheered their win.

“We are so happy to have won that gold in only our second international competition,” Daley said. “It is great to see that our partnership is improving every time we compete. Our hardest dive the Front 4 ½ was one of the best that we have done. We are lucky we have natural timing but we missed our first two optional dives and we want to improve that a lot.”

“We are going to Mexico and the World Championships next,” Waterfield said. “It is a new partnership but we seem to be working well together. The 4 ½ is our newest dive but it saved us today so we are both glad that we are using.”

Cao and Zhang ultimately won silver with 443.82 and bronze went to Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding (Germany) with a total of 427.59.

China’s Qin Kai struck gold to continue his domination of this season’s men’s 3m Springboard event. Defending World Series Champion Kai – who won both previous legs in Moscow and Beijing this term – took over the lead at the half way point and never looked back on the way to scoring 547.70. Kai’s fifth dive was the highlight of the set as he scored 106.40 for Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked. China’s Olympic and World Champion He Chong finished second with 531.15 while USA’s Troy Dumais took bronze with 507.65.

“I am happy to win the gold,” Kai said. “I have now had many chances to practice my Front 4 ½ dive and it is becoming more stable. I learnt the dive a year ago and a few months ago I was still having some problems with it but it is getting much better now.”

Great Britain’s double world junior champion Jack Laugher impressed to score an international pb of 436.90. And while his score would have been good enough to progress from the first semi-final, he missed out on qualification from his semi by an agonising 14 points.

Zi He and Minxia Wu dominated the women’s 3m Synchro with a performance that saw them score consistently throughout the five rounds. After the required dives the Chinese pair had a total of 107.40 points and their highest scoring dive came in the fourth round. The pair, that also won the gold in the Beijing leg of the event, executed their Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults piked scored a total of 80.10 points as they moved twenty points into the lead. He and Wu finished with a total of 334.20 points to win their gold. Canada’s Jennifer Abel and Emilie Heymans won the silver with a score of 315.00 while Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape (Italy) took bronze with 303.60 points.

Rebecca Gallantree and Alicia Blagg were competing in their first leg of the series together and secured fifth place with a score of 294.00.

“That performance felt really good,” Gallantree said. “It was the first time we performed that list internationally, after adding a more difficult dive, and we’re both really pleased with the score.

“That’s our best result since the Commonwealth Games and shows, at an early stage in the season, how far we’ve come as a pair. Diving here in Sheffield is an amazing experience in front of a sell out crowd and they kept us focused throughout.”

Blagg added: “The home crowd was amazing and just fed my adrenalin. I was very nervous before but didn’t let them get the better of me and affect my performance. There were a lot of positives to take from that performance.”

China’s World Cup champion Hu Yadan struck gold in the last event of the night – the women’s 10m Platform. The final was a straight shoot-out between Hu and Olympic champion Chen Ruolin with both divers adopting the same list. But Hu stormed to victory over her more experienced rival, outscoring Chen on all five dives to win with 442.00 with her teammate finishing on 408.60. Mexico’s world champion Paola Espinosa picked up bronze with her score of 356.10. Great Britain’s Jenny Cowen held off the nerves on her World Series debut to score 297.50 for seventh place overall. (British Swimming)

Kejurnas 2011:DKI Bawa Rombongan Besar

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA-PRSI DKI akan mengirimkan rombongan besar ke kejurnas renang yang akan berlangsung di Surabaya, Jawa Timur pada 14-16 Mei mendatang.

Para perenang tim DKI diambil dari  16 perenang yang lolos dalam limit waktu dalam seleksi daerah atau kejuaraan provinsi yang berlangsung di kolam renang Gelora Bung Karno Senayan, pekan lalu. Ke 16 perenang tersebut menembus limit yang dibuat berdasar rata-rata waktu peringkat satu hingga tiga pada kejurnas tahun lalu.

Namun  Pengurus PRSI DKI kemudian memutuskan mengikut sertakan para perenang yang telah tergabung dalam Pelatada DKI, meski mereka sebenarnya tidak menembus batas waktu dalam seleksi kejurprov tersebut. Untuk tim ini sebanyak 13 perenang pelatda terjaring ikut tim ke Surabaya.

"Kami memnag mengikutsertakan mereka sesuai kemauan KONI DKi. Alasan mereka, ajang kejurnas ini adalah merupakan ajang Seleksi Pra PON Riau 2012 mendatang," kata Sekjen Pengropv PRSI DKI, Nursamsu di Jakarta, Jumat (15/4).

Dalam tim DKI ini  terdapat nama-nama perenang nasional seperti Guntur Pratama Putra dan Nicko Biondi. "Kami memang tidak menargetkan perolehan medali di kejurnas kali ini. Namun  lebih menekankan pada kemungkinan meloloskan perenang sebanyak mungkin ke PON 2012 mendatang," lanjut Nursamsu.

Dengan tambahan perenang pelatda ini, perenang DKI berjumlah 29 orang. Rombongan menjadi besar karena delapan pelatih yang selama ini menangani pelatda mendapat kesempatan juga untuk berangkat mendampingi para perenang mereka ke Surabaya. Ditambah lagi dua pelatih dari klub yang perenangnya lolos seleksi tetapi tidak tergabung di Pelatda.

Seleksi perenang DKI yang dilangsungkan pekan lalu memang banyak dikeluhkan peserta. Mereka menganggap limit waktu kejurnas tersebut terlalu tajam. Akibatnya, dua perenang terbaik yaitu di KU II putera dan KU III puteri bahkan gagal ikut ke Surabaya meski mampu menambang lebih dari lima emas.

"Kami sebenarnya  memberi kesempatan kepada mereka yang ingin berangkat dengan biaya sendiri. Untuk itu biaya yang dibutuhkan sebesar Rp 3.600.000- per orang, kata Abdul Syukur dari Pengprov DKI. (Kompas.com)

Renang Indah Bersiap Uji Coba ke Makau

MAJALAH AKUATIK INDONESIA- Jakarta - Skuad subcabang renang indah untuk SEA Games XXVI akan mengikuti uji coba di Macau Open pada 27-29 Mei mendatang. Pelatih renang indah Ragil Sugarestu Handayani menyatakan persiapan sudah mencapai tahap latihan koreografi sehingga tidak ada kendala berarti. "Uji coba di Macau ini akan menjadi bahan evaluasi," 

katanya.

Ragil mengakui sebetulnya ada keterbatasan waktu persiapan yang dilakukan. "Kami sudah membuat program, tetapi sempat berubah akibat ada pelatihan (pengembangan karakter) ke Batujajar. Tetapi persiapan umum ternyata bisa dilakukan dengan baik dan saat sudah latihan teknik pun atlet tidak kesulitan," kata Ragil Selasa (12/4).

Subcabang renang indah mengikuti pendidikan karakter di Batujajar, Jawa Barat, pada akhir Maret lalu. Mereka langsung berpacu dengan waktu untuk mempersiapkan diri menjelang Macau Open. "Karena memang atlet-atlet juga hasil seleksi, proses latihan koreografi tidak butuh waktu lama," ujar Ragil.

Saat ini telah bergabung 12 orang atlet yang berlatih bersama di Kompleks Kolam Renang Gelora Bung Karno Senayan. Jumlah ini sudah sesuai dengan tim inti yang nantinya akan diturunkan pada SEA Games yaitu 10 orang plus 2 orang cadangan. Menurut Ragil jumlah itu memang sangat riskan. "Jika ada yang cedera, kami harus mencarikan pengganti. Mudah-mudahan hal seperti itu tidak perlu terjadi," katanya.

Uji coba di Macau diharapkan bisa menjadi tempat bagi para atlet untuk melatih diri tanpa diintip negara-negara pesaing terkuta. Ragil menyatakan bahwa persaingan berat kemungkinan besar datang dari Malaysia dan Thailand pada SEA Games nanti. "Kemungkinan besar negara-negara ini tidak ikut," kata dia.

Selain Macau Open, renang indah juga akan beruji coba di kejuaraan dunia akuatik yang digelar di Shanghai, China Juli nanti. Mereka akan mempersiapkan untuk bisa mengasah kemampuan di nomor-nomor yang bakal dipertandingkan di SEA Games yaitu duet technical, duet free, team technical, team free, dan combination.

Menurut Ragil, dari seluruh nomor itu nantinya Indonesia memiliki peluang besar untuk mendapatkan medali emas di dua nomor seperti team technicaldan team free. "Kami berharap bisa mencuri emas dari nomor duet. Tetapi di situ ada Malaysia yang sangat kuat dan juga Thailand," kata Ragil (TEMPO Interaktif)