TOM DALEY overcame a poor opening round dive to snatch a sensational silver medal at the second FINA/NVC World Series event in Guangzhou, China, on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Plymothian, who had won his semi-final with 538.65 points, found himself last of the six divers after the first round of the final, scoring just 56.00 points for his inward three-and-a-half somersault effort.

That left him nearly 40 points behind his big Chinese rivals Aisen Chen and Hao Yang.

But Daley slowly pulled that deficit back with some outstanding diving, rising one position each round.

He managed to produce two dives over 100 points – his second and fourth round efforts – to score a final total of 531.45 points.

That was enough for him to beat Yang to silver, with the Chinese man scoring 526.65 points.

However, he left himself too much to do to catch an in-form Chen, who collected more than 108 points for his final two dives to finish on an incredible 601.15 points. The home favourite’s last effort saw him score all 10s.

Daley, though, will be pleased with a silver medal, having won bronze last weekend at the opening series leg in Beijing.

On Friday, Daley had finished fifth in the mixed three-metre synchro event with Grace Reid.