Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China, Irina Slutskaya of Russia and Michelle Kwan of the United States will join other world champions in Beijing next month to skate for the final time before 2008 at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2005 as the Beijing Capital Gymnasium is set to be refit for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Samsung Anycall ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2005 will get under way from November 3 to 6.

To give the fans the best atmosphere to enjoy the performances of the world's elite skaters, officials from the Winter Sports Administrative Centre (WSAC) promised to learn from experiences from the past two events and vastly improve its organization.

"We will make the utmost efforts to organize one of the best winter sports events in 2005," said Ren Hongguo, vice director of WSAC.

"It will be the last Grand Prix of Figure Skating to be held in Beijing," Ren said, adding that all the events before 2008 will be held in Shanghai or Nanjing of South China.

"It is a pity for the fans of Beijing. We have made successes in the past two years, and the event won great enthusiasm and popularity among the people."

Almost all of the world's top skaters are expected to come to Beijing next month.

China has strong representation in the pairs competition with Pang Qing and Tong Jian, the 2003 Skate America pairs winners and 2004 ISU Grand Prix Finals third-place finishers. World figure skating pairs champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, however, will not be defending their title from injury.

But the young Chinese duo will be hard pressed to beat experienced world champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov of Russia, and Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland.

The women's singles field will be the strongest for the Beijing stop of the ISU Grand Prix series.

Last year's ISU Grand Prix finals women's singles winner and reigning world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia and last year's World Championships gold medallist Shizuka Arakawa of Japan both have confirmed their participation.

The United States Figure Skating Association has also registered Michelle Kwan, runner-up in the ladies singles of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and seven-time US champion.

Switzerland's Stephane Lambiel, this year's World Figure Skating Championships men's singles winner, will lead the men's pool. Emanuel Sandhu of Canada, 2004 Skate Canada winner, and China's Li Chengjiang, the first Chinese man to win an ISU Championship (Four Continents 2001), will also strive for gold.

Source: China Daily