NHK Trophy: Japanese, Russian figure skaters dominate podium

APD NEWS

text

The International Skating Union (ISU) NHK Trophy concluded in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, with both the men's and women's singles titles going to Japanese Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto, respectively. Russian duo Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov claimed the pairs event's gold medal.

With the absence of Yuzuru Hanyu, who had to quit the event a week ago due to an unexpected foot injury during practice, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics runner-up, Uno, secured a title for himself and locked in a spot in the ISU Grand Prix Final to be held in Osaka, Japan in mid-December.

The 23-year-old Uno finished the event with 290.15 points, with 187.57 from free skating.

American Vincent Zhou won the silver medal with 260.69, and Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea took the bronze with 259.60.

On the women's side, Kaori Sakamoto defended her singles title, finishing with her best free skating score of the season, 146.78 points, and 223.34 in total.

Her compatriot Mana Kawabe clinched silver, and South Korea's Young You took the bronze medal.

The pairs title went to Russia's world champions Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov, who skated to the second Grand Prix victory of their career with 148.88 points in free skating and a total of 227.28 points.

Their compatriots Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov came second, and Japan's Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara collected the bronze medal.

Russian figure skaters also won the top spot on the podium in the ice dance. The gold, silver, and bronze went to Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, American Madison Chock/Evan Bates, and British Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson.

The NHK Trophy is the fourth leg of the ISU Grand Prix series. The next event is scheduled to run from November 19-21 in Grenoble, France.

(Xinhua News Agency)