Commonwealth Games: Diver gets routine horribly wrong & belly flops

Sri Lanka’s Dunlanjan Kaushalya Fernando will be glad he was only diving from one metre up after he totally miscued his effort during the springboard diving event this afternoon.

With the Commonwealth Games well underway, attention turned to the diving boards on Thursday, with the preliminary rounds taking place in Birmingham.

Australia’s Li Shixin stormed into the lead early on, with his impressive forward 3 1/2 somersaults in piked earning him an overall score of 388.70.

The home crowd in Birmingham were also treated to some fabulous dives from Scotland’s James Heatly, with the 25-year-old placing himself in second, just 1.15 points off Shixin.

“I just wanted to be consistent with my dives and that was good,” said Heatly after the event.

“387 is good for the prelims, but it was all about shaking off the nerves and I’ve done that.

“I’m not a betting man but the top group of us there do similar dives so it’s going to be down to who does the best quality dives.”

Elsewhere, England’s Jordan Houlden occupied third at the closing stages after overtaking compatriot Jack Laugher, who ended the round in fourth.

However, it was a day to forget for Sri Lanka’s Dunlanjan Kaushalya Fernando, who endured a painful belly flop on his sixth attempt.

You can watch the dive in the clip below.

Belly flop, OUCH