WUHAN, China, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Olympic champion diver Chen Aisen suffered his first defeat after winning two golds at Rio 2016, losing to 2014 Diving World Cup winner Yang Jian by 23.15 points to take the silver of men's 10m platform at Chinese National Diving Championships here on Wednesday.
"I have thought of the result today and it was just the reflect of my training level recently, maybe I didn't push myself hard enough," said the 21-year-old Chen, who had just broken into "600+" club at FINA/NVC Diving World Series at Guangzhou in March. But he excuted three of his six dives with flaws today to finish with only 563.00.
"Some may say I am the leader of Chinese men's diving team now, but I think there is still a long way to go for me," Chen added.
On the other hand, this title means a lot for Yang, who had suffered really tough days in last two years after his painful memories in 2015 World Championships where he failed to make into the final and only ranked 11th. He said today's race was "the first satisfying competition" in two years.
"I felt really nervous before the match, it's been a long time since I came to the final as the 1st-ranked diver in semifinal," Yang said, "And I felt the pressure mounting as the game went on. You can see my last two dives were not as good as the first four.
"The last two years have taught me a lot, and I have sworn to myself that I will come back this year," Yang said.
The bronze medal went to two-time Olympic champion in synchronized event Lin Yue, who finished with 561.95.
