More Gold For China, Russia At World Championship

China maintained their perfect record in the diving events at the world swimming championships in Melbourne.

He Zi won the women's one-metre springboard final.

He Zi snatched the gold with a total of 316.65 points to edge out the 2005 champion, Blythe Hartley of Canada, and Russia's Yuliya Pakhalina.

"I started to feel pressure when I knew I was the only Chinese diver in the final but I just tried my best to perform my standard," He Zi, speaking through a translator, told reporters.

China have won gold in each of the first five diving events at the championships to remain on course for a clean sweep of all 10 events.

"China is always incredibly strong. They are looking great right now," Hartley said.

"She is a girl who was absolutely fantastic. I have a lot of respect for her." Russia's Irina Lashko, who won the 2003 world title competing for Australia before returning to her homeland, launched a scathing attack on the judges after she finished fifth.

"I'm disgusted. If they can do that so openly in front of the whole world, I think something needs to be done," Lashko said.

"It's embarrassing and a total insult in front of the whole world. They (the judges) should be ashamed of themselves."

Lashko, 34, has been one of the world's finest female divers for almost two decades years, winning world titles in 1998 and 2003.

She has also competed at four Olympics, for the Soviet Union (1988), the Unified Team (1992), Russia (1996) and Australia (2004), earning two silver medals and a bronze.

She left Russia to migrate to Australia in 1998 after winning gold at the world championships in Perth but returned to Russia last year in protest at missing a place in the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games.

Russia overcame the disappointment of a rare defeat in synchronised swimming by winning the duet free on Friday to extend their lead at the top of the medals table.

Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova won the title for the third time running, finishing ahead of Spain's Gemma Mengual Civil and Paola Tirados Sanchez and Japan's Ayako Matsumura and Emiko Suzuki.

Davydova and Ermakova also won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics and their victory gave Russia their fifth gold medal from six events in synchronised swimming. Russia's only defeat came in sole free, won by Virginie Dedieu of France.