Figure skate Grand Prix to open in Beijing today

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 06, 2003

Figure skate Grand Prix to open in Beijing today

The Cup of China-ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating opens this afternoon at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.

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The Cup of China-ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating will open this afternoon at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.

Sixty-four skaters from 14 countries and regions will participate in the four-day event in ladies' and men's singles, pairs and ice dancing. Sunday will be an exhibition gala with all the medallists taking part.

Many world figure skating stars will be there for the Chinese spectators, including their favourite home pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo - winners of the 2002 and 2003 World Championships and bronze medalists in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and their young teammates, last month's Skate America pairs winners Pang Qing and Tong Jian.

Other noted participants include 2000 World Championship pairs gold medallists, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia, 2003 World Championship ladies' singles bronze medallist, Fumie Suguri of Japan, world third-ranked ladies' singles Viktoria Volchkova of Russia, 2003 World Championships men's silver medallist Timothy Goebel of the United States, and world No 3 and 7, Li Chengjiang and Zhang Min, both of China.

In ice dancing, 2003 World Championships fourth-place finishers Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia, who won the Canada Grand Prix title on November 2, will also take part in the Beijing event.

In the Canada competition, China's pairs skaters Shen and Zhao finished second with a new routine to the music of the Nutcracker. "We are confident we will win the event with the support of our Chinese crowd," Zhao said upon returning to Beijing.

Other young Chinese skaters will seize this opportunity to gain experience, such as ladies' singles skater, world No 24 Fang Dan, 2003 Junior World Championships pairs silver medallists Ding Yang and Ren Zongfei, and 2002 World Championship men's singles 16th place finisher Gao Song.

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