XI'AN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China pocketed three golds and one silver as the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup kicked off in Xi'an on Friday.
In team technical, China, winner of last year's World Cup Super Final and world championships, displayed dominance again, earning 304.3592 points to pocket the gold medal.
Compared with the world championships, China changed its squad, bringing male swimmer Guo Muye in the discipline for the first time. The host team delivered a highly impressive choreographed routine inspired by the acclaimed video game "Black Myth: Wukong" to secure the win.
"Guo brought us more elements," Olympic champion Xiang Binxuan said. "We have some young athletes in the squad, while countless practices contribute to our win."
Guo also took silver in men's solo technical with 245.2684 points, less than 0.5 points behind Ranjuo Tomblin of Britain.
In women's duet technical, world champion Xu Huiyan and Lin Yanjun scored 308.2983 points, beating Russia's Kira Cherezova and Valentina Gerasimova to second place with 296.9358. The bronze medal went to Japan's Moe Higa and Tomoka Sato.
"Compared with their performance last year, Xu and Lin improved their difficulties and points," China coach Zhang Xiaohuan told Xinhua.
"We always have new rivals in international events, we should focus on our performances, instead of considering too much about the opponents' difficulties," she added.
Xu also won the solo technical title with 263.8634 points. Vasilina Khandoshka of Belarus, who won in Paris in March, finished second at 261.0983, while Germany's Klara Bleyer took bronze.
"Compared with last year's routine, I made adjustments on the difficulty of leg movements, as well as the arrangement and combination of movements," Xu said.
After World Aquatics had lifted sanctions on Russian and Belarusian athletes and allowed them to compete with their national flags and anthems, Khandoshka expressed her excitement.
"Since the year 2022, it is the first time for me to compete in international competitions in a venue which hangs my national flag. It is a special game for me, I like the atmosphere here and I am very happy to pocket a silver in the game," Khandoshka said.
The Xi'an stop continues with the men's solo free, women's duet free, mixed duet technical and team free events on Saturday. ■
