Russia's Yuko Kawaguchi, right, and Alexander Smirnov compete in the pairs during the Grand Prix 5th Series in Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow.
Photo: Yury Martyanov
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Russians Dance to Gold
Russia’s ice dancers Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin danced to the gold medals yesterday at the Grand Prix 5th Series in Megasport Ice Palace in Khodynka, Moscow. Our pair, Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov, won the bronze a day earlier. Andrei Gryazev was also the third in the men’s competition of the Cup of Russia.
A good news of the recent Grand Prix series is that two nearly equal pairs have finally emerged in Russia to compete for the bronze. Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov, who are trained by legendary Tamara Moskvina, were the third in the Cup of Russia after the toughest and most dazzling battle with Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, the new pair of Oleg Vasiliev. Exactly Vasiliev had led Tatiana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin to the brilliant victory at Turin Olympics.
The success of our ice dancers Oksana Domnin/Maxim Shabalin was well expected, the more so that Melissa Gregory/Denis Petukhov of the U.S. missed the event because of Melissa’s injury and the Russians had to fight mostly with themselves.
And the hopes of Moscow materialized. Domnina and Shabalin took the lead after the compulsory dance. Despite some errors, they were exciting with original Cossack Dance and finally prevailed with dramatic Waltz Masquerade.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 26, 2007
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