Benfeito & Filion, Abel & Ware reach diving podium

Canada's diving quartet was back winning medals again on Thursday in Dubai.

Known as the Fab IV, Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, along with Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware, earned two sets of silver medals during the second stop on the FINA World Series diving circuit.

Montreal's Benfeito, and Filion, of Laval, Que., Olympic bronze medallists in London, finished second in the women's 10-metre synchro event.

Abel and Ware completed the same feat in three-metre synchro.

In the 10m synchro competition, world champions Ruolin Chen and Huixia Liu China won the gold medal with 324.66 points. Benfeito and Filion finished at 321.27, while Jun Hoong Cheong and Mun Yee Leong of Malaysia took third at 315.18.

Leading after the first three rounds, a slight error cost Benfeito and Filion in the end, allowing the Chinese duo to claim top stop.

"We've never been this close to the Chinese," said Filion. "It breaks our heart a little bit that we made that mistake on the fourth dive. If we would have done it well we probably would have won. But still we showed today we are getting closer."

In the women's three-metre synchro, China's Minxia Wu and Tingmao Shi of China cruised to victory with 338.10 points. Abel, of Laval, Que., and Ware, from Montreal, finished second with comfortably 315.51. Paola Espinosa and Dolores Hernandez of Mexico were third at 303.90.

"Jen and Pam were really determined to make up for a disappointing performance last weekend," said Canadian national coach Aaron Dziver. "They also were pretty close to first and also put some distance on the third place finishers."

On the men's side, Montreal Philippe Gagné and Vincent Riendeau of Pointe-Claire, Que., were fourth in the 10m synchro competition.

The Dubai event continues through Saturday.