Diving gold "icing on the cake" for classy Daley and Brick

By Tom Degun in New Delhi

October 12 - English diving pair Tom Daley and Max Brick (pictured) put in a superb performance as they secured gold in the men’s 10 metre synchro platform event and the young Briton secured an important psychological advantage over his biggest rival, Australia's Matthew Mitcham.

They were pushed hard Mitcham, the Olympic 10m platform champion, and his partner Ethan Warren but eventually displayed too much class.

But there was controversy when Canada pair Eric Sehn and Kevin Geyson, who finished third, were not awarded the bronze medal because of lack of competitors.

The only other partnership were Malaysian duo Tze Liang Mas Ooi and Abd Rashid Muhammad

The 16-year-old Daley and 18-year-old Brick took the lead after their second dive and entered the final round 11.52 points ahead of Australia.

A solid final effort from the English duo under the watchful eyes of London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe then sealed gold by 15.84 points with a combined total of 439.65.

Daley, who is set to compete in the individual 10m platform event later this week, said: "To win here at the Commonwealth Games means a lot to me.

"I am very happy that a lot of the hard work has paid off.

"Our two required dives set us on our way and I’m pleased because we’ve improved them a lot.

"It’s been a tough year with injuries and I‘ve had so much physio that for it to pay off here is fantastic.

"We could really become a strong synchro team and if we work hard and train hard, we could become a force to reckon with."

Brick added: “We wanted to come here and do well and to get the gold was the icing on the cake."

But the row overshadowed the event.

Sehn said: "It is a little unfair.

"There are some countries here that probably don't have a 10m platform or the athletes to compete."

Ann Sissons, a member of the technical committee of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), said she sympathised with the Canadians.

But she added that five teams are needed in order to meet the medal requirements, as stipulated by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

She said: "A rule is a rule is a rule.

"This isn't the first time this has happened."

There was also no bronze winner at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

But the row could not hide the early confidence in the build-up to London 2012 that the victory over Mitcham will give Daley.

Mitcham, though, tried to remain upbeat.

He said: ''We thought we'd give them a bit of a handicap and then challenge ourselves and see if we could win from there, we didn't quite do it but we got pretty close."