Cao claimed his second gold of the weekend after following up his 10m synchro title on Friday (March 14) by taking top spot in the individual event.

The 19-year-old was in inspired form, registering seven perfect 10 scores during his outing, netting him a total of 579.45 points to see him finish clear of second-placed man and reigning world champion Qiu Bo who finished on 534.05 points.

Britain's Tom Daley made a promising start to his season as the London 2012 bronze medal winner completed the podium in Beijing with 525.05 points, while reigning Olympic champion David Boudia of the United States put in a stuttering performance and could only manage a sixth place finish.

"I'm happy that I performed my training level and I learned a lot from this competition, especially from my teammate Qiu," said Cao.

"I have competed in 10m platform individual and synchro, and springboard synchro.

"It is really a fruitful start for 2014."

Liu Huixia confirmed her status as one of the world's top divers with gold in Beijing
©Getty Images



In the women's event, another Briton took the bronze medal as Tonia Couch secured her place on the opening podium of the year with a score of 357.90.

However, it was gold for China yet again as 16-year-old starlet Liu Huixia also took her second title in three days.

Having opened up with a win in the synchro competition with compatriot Ruolin Chen on day one, Liu showed she can do it on her own as she dominated the individual event finishing with 412.90 points, ahead of Malaysian rival Pandelela Rinong Pamg.

"I made a mistake in my 407C dive due to a bad start," said Liu.

"It's not my first time [winning] the individual gold at the World Series as I won one last year in Mexico."

Russian Olympic silver medallists Evgeniy Kuznetsov and Ilya Zakharov were the only non-Chinese divers to taste success in the Water Cube over the three days, as seven of the eight golds went to home athletes.

Next up on the Diving World Series tour will be Dubai this coming weekend before the Tour moves on to London in April, Moscow and Windsor, Canada, in May, then finishing in Monterrey, Mexico, in June.

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