Chinese figure skaters win short program at NHK Trophy

China's reigning world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong won the pairs short program at the NHK Trophy figure skating competition kicked off on Friday.

Skating to the music of Hallelujah, Sui and Han scored 79.43 points with level-four moves which included a huge throw triple flip, a side by side triple toeloop and triple twist.

Last week, the pair won a championship at the Audi Cup of China stage of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.

Sui Wenjing, Han Cong in action.

"The back-to-back competition is not a problem for us – We don't feel tired," Han told reporters, adding that there is not a big time difference between Japan and Beijing and they are used to "back-to-back" training programs.

Russia's Olympic silver medalists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov came second while their teammates Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov placed the third.

In the women's short program, Russia's two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva pulled off a clean program and scored 79.99 points.

Five-time European champion Carolina Kostner of Italy came in the second at 74.57, followed by 16-year-old Polina Tsurskaya of Russia who shined at her debut in the senior-level competition and scored a personal best of 70.04 points.

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong during the competition.

In the men's short program, Russian veteran Sergei Voronov took the lead with 90.06, while Israel's Alexei Bychenko came in second, followed by Jason Brown of the United States.

Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu, defending world and Olympic champion, withdrew from the competition on Friday due to injuries to his right ankle ligament during official practice.

The NHK Trophy is the fourth of the six events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series 2017/18.

Top six finishers in each figure skating discipline will qualify for the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya in December.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)