Thomas Bimis of Greece, winner of the men's three-meter springboard synchronized event in Athens Olympic Games, failed to make the final of the event in the "Good Luck Beijing" 16th FINA Diving World Cup in Beijing on Tuesday.

Bimis, 33, paired with 21-year-old Alexandros Manos this time, only collected 369.45 points to finish 14th in the preliminary competition.

"It's a pity," said the 33-year-old. "But it's OK, because we really tried our best."

It is the only event Bimis pariticipate in the FINA World Cup, while his partner Manos will also compete in the men's 3m springboard diving.

The Chinese world champion pair Qin Kai and Wang Feng took the first in the preliminary competition with 454.65 points.

Russian pair Dmitry Sautin/Yuriy Kunakov and Ukrainian pair Dmytro Lysenko/Anton Zakharov finished second and third respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)