Special report:   2008 Olympic Games 

    BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 16th FINA Diving World Cup will kick off on Tuesday in the National Aquatic Center with its first event men's 3-meter springboard diving.

    The 16th edition of FINA Diving World Cup, which runs from Feb.19 to 25, serves as an Olympic qualifier and attracts 296 players from 56 countries and regions.

    Lots of world famous divers, such as Chinese diving queen Guo Jingjing and Russian diving czar Dmitry Sautin, will compete in the World Cup.

    Chinese He Chong, winner of the men's 3-meter springboard diving in 2007 national championships, and Qin Kai, winner of the event in 2007 Melbourne World Championships and 2006 diving World Cup, will compete in Tuesday's competition.

    The National Aquatic Center, nicknamed by the Chinese as "water cube", is one of the flagship Olympic facilities, neighboring the Birds Nest, the main stadium.

    The facility, which will host swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming competitions during this summer's Olympics, offers a huge slice of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympics.

    The divers showed their satisfaction of the "water cube" after training here on Monday.

    "I like the diving pool here," said Loudy Wiggins of Australia, two-time Olympic 10-meter platform diving bronze medallist in 2000 and 2004.

    "I feel comfortable because it's similar to Athens and Sydney," She added.