Russia’s Figure Skaters to Go for Bronze at the Max
Winning two bronze medals, in the Ice Dance and Pairs, is the biggest task for our team at the World Figure Skating Championships that start in Gothenburg today, March 18, 2008. Europe’s leaders, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia will miss the event.
Our brilliant dancers, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin won’t compete at the World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg because of the knee injury suffered by Shabalin. Maxim has been long using a stick to walk in his home Odintsovo region of Moscow and will have, perhaps, to undergo another surgery to remove the meniscus. But Maxim, Oksana and their coach Alexei Gorshkov are still optimistic – the medical authorities say Maxim will need no longer than three months to recover from surgery.
So, Russia’s interest in the Ice Dance will be focused on Europe’s bronze medalists of Zagreb competition, Yana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitsky, who will be fighting for the bronze medals at the most.
In the Pairs section, the task is to near the stand this year, ascend it next year and mark a place there at the Vancouver Olympics, said Valentin Piseev, president of Russia’s Figure Skating Federation. Bronze medalists of Zagreb Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov trained by Tamara Moskvina and silver medalists Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov of Oleg Vasiliev have equal chances, Piseev specified.
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All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 18, 2008
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