BUDAPEST, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Twin sisters Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the women's duet free title to take China's third gold in artistic swimming at the 19th FINA World Championships here on Thursday.
The 25-year-old twins, who also won the women's technical duet and the women's team technical, beat the Ukrainian and Austrian teams with a score of 95.5667 points. The Ukrainian Aleksiiva sisters, Maryna and Vladyslava, got the silver medal with 94.1667, while Anna-Maria and Eirini Alexandria of Austria came third on 92.8000.
"I feel very happy and excited to win the third gold medal for the Chinese artistic swimming team," older sister Wang Liuyi told Xinhua following the final. "The help of the coach and the encouragement of teammates have given us a lot of motivation. We have overcome fatigue and various difficulties. I did very well today and I'm satisfied with my performance."
Wang Qianyi said: "This is the first time for us to compete in both the duet and the team events, so I felt a little bit of pressure."
"In spite of fatigue, we were able to withstand this pressure. I feel very happy," she added.
Since the start of the FINA Worlds, the sisters have delivered seven performances in the preliminaries and the finals.
According to Qianyi, a key to success was the winter training plan formulated by the coach, which has laid a very good foundation for them.
"In terms of physical fitness, both of us have greatly improved. The coach gave us a solid training and gave us a lot of trust. We are encouraging each other too," she said.
On Friday, the sisters will compete in the team free final, which is their last event in the Championships. Wang Liuyi said: "We hope to be able to work together with our teammates in the final tomorrow, to have a better performance and achieve better results."
"The World Championships is a big test for us. We hope to play steadily, step by step, and do a good job. I believe that no matter what kind of difficulties we encounter, we can overcome them," Qianyi added. ■
