CRYSTAL Palace Diving Club’s team won the ASA national age groups competition in Southampton last weekend.

They picked up 27 medals, including 13 golds, 11 silvers and three bronzes, while Crystal Palace members took both the first and second places in half a dozen events.

Many of the divers had been hand picked from the British diving talent identification programme two years ago and have since been receiving Chinese specialist training.

Senior coach Chen Wen said: “This is a very good performance, our divers had excellent technique and they dived better than expected.

“Crystal Palace is now a very strong club, from younger divers to Olympic divers.”

The club has benefited from the reopening of the National Sports Centre last year, with improved facilities and one of the best dry diving gyms in the country.

Assistant coach Xiang Yan Kong said: “We spend many hours teaching divers in harnesses in the dry gym where we have four boards and five trampolines.

“Next year the Crystal Palace divers will be stronger and we will work them very hard for 2012.”