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| Gold medallists Qing Pang and Jian Tong from
China during the Pairs Free Skating program at the ISU World Figure
Skating Championships in Calgary, Canada.
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China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian captured the pairs title at the
world figure skating
championships on Wednesday, when favorites Zhang Dan and
Zhang Hao once again faltered within sight of the gold medal.
Skating last, Pang and Tong's routine also got off to a rocky start
when she hit the ice on side-by-side triple toe
loops.
But the pair recovered to skate a
clean program the rest of the way, their routine earning top marks from
the judges and cheers from the crowd when their winning total of 189.20
flashed on the scoreboard.
Zhang and Zhang, leaders after the
short program, could only manage the fourth best free skate finishing with
a score of 186.42.
Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov,
the 2000 world champions, skated a clean, high-quality program that
produced a career best score of 186.22 but it was only good enough to earn
the Russians third step on the podium.
"This is the first time we have
stood on the top of podium and I am so happy, my mind is still in the
arena," said Tong, fourth at the Turin Winter Games. "We had problems with
a jump but all the other elements we preformed at our very best.
Zhang and Zhang appeared to have
little hope of finishing the season with any medals after a spectacular
spill during their free skate at the Turin Olympics.
Left bruised and shaken after crashing to the ice on an attempted throw
quadruple Salchow, Zhang Dan limped off the ice with the help of her
partner, their Olympics apparently over.
But a few moments later, she reappeared and the plucky Chinese pair completed their
routine earning the silver medal and a thundering standing ovation.
It is the third pairs title in five years for Chinese skaters, who have
battled the Russians for domination of the
event.
(Agency) | 
