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Reuters) - Hosts China and Russia, with Natalia Ishchenko taking six gold medals, dominated the first half of the world swimming championships while controversy lurked in the open water.
Russia, roared on by the crowd whose support was only marginally more vociferous for the home nation, totally outclassed the rest of the teams in the synchronised swimming, winning all seven titles on offer. Ishchenko has now won 16 gold medals at the world championships.
Only American swimmer Michael Phelps has won more world championship golds -- the Baltimore native has won 22 and begins his campaign to add to that total on Sunday in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay. Not to be outshone, the Chinese diving machine did exactly the same in the outdoor pool just a short stroll from the main indoor venue, claiming all nine titles that had been determined by Saturday, with only the men’s 10-metres platform final to come on Sunday.
The hosts, who were watched by retired NBA player Yao Ming on Saturday, are heavy favourites to emulate the Russians and complete the sweep with Qiu Bo topping qualifying for the platform final by almost 80 points.
Britain’s Tom Daley, the champion from Rome in 2009, also qualified but was more than 110 points behind Qiu in sixth place. The only other discipline in which medals were decided in the first half of the championships was the open water, held at Jinshan City Beach held about 90 minutes south of Shanghai.