Russian Plushenko and Canadian Sandhu go par to lead in World figure skating

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Russian Plushenko and Canadian Sandhu go par to lead in World figure skating

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Defending champion Yevgeny Plushenko of Russia took the first step in his bid to claim his third world title by leading his qualifying group with ease at the world figure skating championships in Dortmund of Germany on Mar. 22.

Plushenko, the champion in 2001 and 2003, showed little sign of the knee problems which contributed to his losing his European title to France's Brian Joubert and the Grand Prix final to Canadian rival Emanuel Sandhu.

Earlier Sandhu lead his qualifying group B ahead of Joubert, putting him neck-and-neck on points with Plushenko going into Tuesday's short program.

The 23-year-old from St. Petersburg skated to Igor Korniliuk's tribute to his home town, which included a quadruple-triple combination and seven triples, to lead compatriot Ilia Klimkin in his Group A.

"Everything is going according to plan," said Plushenko, who will undergo surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee after the season.

His marks ranged from 5.8 to one 5.9 for technique and 5.8 to seven 5.9s for presentation.

Sandhu, a 23-year-old former ballet dancer from Vancouver, is bidding to emulate compatriot Elvis Stojko, the last non-Russian to hold the men's world title, in 1997.

Canada have won ten men's titles in their history, eight of them in the decade following Brian Orser's gold in 1987, followed by four to Kurt Browning and Stojko's treble.

Russia have won all the titles since 1998 with Alexei Yagudin taking four and Plushenko's two.

Three-time Canadian champion Sandhu earned marks ranging from 5.5 to two 5.7s for technique and between 5.5 and two 5.8s for presentation, with Joubert achieving between 5.1 and 5.8 for technique and 5.3 and three 5.7s for presentation for his Matrix routine.

The free skating counts for 20 percent of the marks, with Tuesday's short program and Thursday's free skating final the remaining 50 percent.

Source: Xinhua

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