China's Guo and Wu retain world title

ROME (Reuters) - China's Olympic champions Guo Jinjing and Wu Minxia led from start to finish to retain their women's synchronized three-meter springboard title at the world championships on Friday.

Guo and Wu produced a polished performance to pile up 348.00 points from their five dives.

Italy's Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape delighted the home crowd by taking a surprise silver medal with a score of 329.70.

The Russian pair of Julia Pakhalina, who won the one-meter springboard gold on Sunday, and Anastasia Pozdniakova recovered from a botched fourth dive to claim bronze.

Guo, who has won more Olympic golds than any other female diver, had already secured her fifth successive individual 3m springboard world title after victory on Tuesday.

China's sixth diving victory so far here helps reassert their dominance in the event after Chinese media's talk of a 'crisis' in their team when they missed out on three gold medals early on.

China won all but one of the eight golds up for grabs at the Beijing Olympics last year.

(Reporting by Paul Virgo, editing by Justin Palmer)