Brian Joubert, Johnny Weir and Sergei Dobrin head the men's field at the Cup of Russia Grand Prix figure skating competition that began yesterday.
A win in Moscow for Joubert would clinch a place for the Frenchman in the Grand Prix Final to be held next month in St Petersburg, Russia.
Dobrin, aiming to solidify position as Russia's top male skater in this season's absence of Evgeny Plushenko, also could earn a berth in St Petersburg with a strong performance. He has accumulated 11 points in this year's Grand Prix series, putting him even with Weir and Canada's Emanuel Sandhu, who also will compete in the Luzhniki Arena.
Julia Sebestyen of Hungary, who won the Grand Prix event in China two weeks ago, heads the women's lineup and is a strong contender for a slot in the final. Russia's Elena Sokolova has a mathematical chance of making the final if she wins in Moscow; she placed only seventh at the Cup of China, giving her four points.
Sarah Meier of Switzerland and Alissa Czisny of the US, both ahead of Sokolova in Grand Prix points, will also be competing in Moscow.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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