Olympic silver medalists Pang Qing and Tong Jian won the pairs competition at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships yesterday, turning in an impressive performance in the free skate.
The world champions wowed the crowd with a precise and fluent skating display, scoring a season’s best 128.04 points for a total of 199.45.
Despite the win, Tong is looking to improve next time out.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
“I hope we will do better in next month’s world championships because today we were not totally in control,” Tong said.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were second with 181.79 points and Canadian teammates Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers were third with 171.73.
Earlier, world champion Daisuke Takahashi of Japan surged to a commanding lead after the men’s short program.
Takahashi nailed his triple flip and triple toeloop with precision and combined cheekiness and sultry elegance to register 83.49 points, comfortably ahead of the US’ Jeremy Abbot, his nearest rival with 76.73.
Takahashi’s compatriot Yuzuru Hanyu was third with 76.43 points.
Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka had been expected to challenge Takahashi, but a disappointing performance left him in sixth place with 66.25 points.
Skating to an upbeat medley of Latin music, Takahashi delighted the crowd at the Taipei Arena with his near flawless program, leaving little doubt that he will be a force to be reckoned with at next month’s world championships in Tokyo.
The Four Continents competition concludes tomorrow. It is as a counterpart to the European Championships and features skaters from the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Today’s schedule:
13:00: Ladies short program
18:00: Men’s free skating
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set