BY People's Daily Online,

Germany claimed the first gold at the "Good Luck Beijing" 16th FINA Diving World Cup as Sascha Klein dominated the men's 10-meter platform here on Sunday.

Klein, 23, runners-up of the men's 10 platform synchronized final on Saturday, kept leading the final to collect 566.85 points.

"I am very happy with the result," said Klein, who had never won a title in major world competitions before. "It's just incredible."

Zhou Luxin of China, silver medalist of the 2007 Melbourne worlds, took the silver at 543.40, while David Boudia brought the United States a bronze with 526.65.

"Generally speaking I performed normally today," said Zhou. "But there were changes in my mind during the final. I felt quite nervous."

"Maybe I thought too much," Zhou added. "We all know that we lost the gold of the event in Melbourne worlds, and I really expected to prove myself through competitions."

"I was under pressure," said Zhou.

Zhou had always trailed the German, and after five rounds Zhou was only 0.15 points behind.

However, in the last round, Klein made an almost perfect dive which scored 108.30, the highest during the final, to claim the first gold for Germany.

"I tried to keep calm and focus on the dive itself," said the 23-year-old. "I am happy that the performance was quite good."

Lin Yue of China, bronze medalist in the event at 2007 Melbourne worlds, was not in form and finished fourth.

"My performance was just average, due to having a little pressure from competing in my own country," Lin said. "I didn't do well on the last dive, though I tried my best."

"Klein did fantastically today," added Lin. "I had met him before, when he was already a good diver. Now he is even better."

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