China wins a silver in synchronised swimming solo free at Kazan worlds

Chinese synchronised swimmer Huang Xuechen took a silver in the solo free final at the Kazan world championships here on Wednesday.

The synchronised swimming powerhouse Russia won the gold as Natalia Ishchenko dominated the final with 97.2333 points. Huang finished second in 95.7000. Spain' s Ona Carbonell came third in 94.9000.

"I felt tired," said Huang, who also won the duet technique silver at Kazan. "There is still a big gap between the Russian swimmers and me, but I will try my best to narrow the gap."

Chinese team' s Japanese coach Mayuko Fujlkl said Huang' s performance was better than she did in the preliminary.

"In preliminary she had two figures not precise, so we trained after it and tried to make sure that it would work today. It was much better than the first day," said the coach.

Huang' s performance is to the music Madama Butterfly.

"The music we chose is a very dramatic story," she added. "Huang is the person who can do that kind of expression. I don' t think other solo swimmers can do it, but she can do it. We want to show that part." Endi