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SPORTS> Team China
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Chinese skaters shine with two gold medals at Universiade
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-23 16:00 HARBIN -- Olympic silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China won the pairs' skating gold while Xu Ming took a "surprising" men's title at the Harbin Winter Universiade on Sunday.
Another Chinese pair Dong Huibo/Wu Yiming collected an overall 143.63 to take bronze.
"Every athlete has ups and downs. No one could always stay at his peak shape," said Zhang Hao, referring to the pair's setback at the Four Continents Championships earlier this month in Canada. "We are very much inspired by the gold medal, which brings more confidence to us in preparing for the Olympics," he added.
In men's single, Xu staged a flawless skate to capture what he called a "surprising" gold medal, mounting from 6th place after previous day's short program to the top. In front of home fans, Xu opened with a triple axel and triple toeloop to Warsaw Concerto, followed by triple lutz, triple salchow and double toeloop. He led all the way to score an overall 179.96, knocking Russian Artern Borodulin at second with 179.37. French skater Alban Preaubert took bronze at 175.34 out of the 33 participants. "I was too excited and surprised to take the gold. I have never thought about it before," said a smiling Xu after the race. In the ice dance event, Israeli skaters Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski continued their dominance in the original dance section, paving the way for the gold ahead of Monday's final free dance. Monday will see ladies' short program, free dance of ice dancing and the synchronized skating, which is for first time as a competition event at Universiade. Altogether 204 participants from 26 countries compete in the figure skating competitions at the Harbin Universiade. |
