NRI Canada's skaters,
Emanuel Sandhu in third place at Grand Prix
Emanuel Sandhu in third place after short program at Grand Prix
meet
MOSCOW (CP) - Canada's skaters had a rough time on and off the
ice at the US$180,000 Cup of Russia meet Friday.
Emanuel Sandhu of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell on a triple Axel
and was in third place after the men's short program, while Utako
Wakamatsu fell on a triple jump and was in fifth place after the
pairs short with partner Jean-Sebastian Fecteau of St-Leonard,
Que.
At least they got to compete.
Annabelle Langlois of Gatineau, Que., and Cody Hay of Grande
Prairie, Alta., had to withdraw from pairs competition because
her luggage was lost and she never found her skates.
Also, ice dancers Mylene Girard of Repentigny, Que., and Brad
Yaeger of Montreal withdrew after he suffered an injury.
Sandhu got 71.30 points and trailed Brian Joubert of France,
who landed a quad-triple and got 77.70 points, and U.S. champ
Johnny Weir, who got 75.10.
Besides falling, Sandhu opted out of a quad and did a triple
flip-triple toe loop combo during his mambo routine in a bright
green shirt.
"It was just a silly little accident," he said of his
botched Axel. "I caught an edge and I slipped.
"It was just an unfortunate silly little accident. We will
ignore that for (Saturday and the free skating)."
At the 2006 world championships, Joubert was second overall,
Sandhu fifth and Weir seventh. This is Sandhu's second Grand Prix
assignment of the season. He finished third overall at the Cup
of China two weeks ago.
Christopher Mabee of Tillsonburg, Ont., got 62.80 and was seventh
among 12.
Wakamatsu fell on a triple toe loop.
"I was too aggressive," she said. "I need to be
aggressive for jumps but (Friday) it was too much.
"I didn't go straight up. That doesn't happen very often.
I was kind of disappointed about that."
Langlois didn't get the luggage she checked in with when she
left Toronto.
"They still don't know where it is," said Fecteau.
"They checked lost and found in Moscow and Frankfurt and
they couldn't find it.
"It is kind of sad to make it all the way here and only
half the team has skates."
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany were first in
the pairs short program with 63.96 points and Maria Petrova and
Alexei Tikhonov of Russia were second with 62.28. Wakamatsu and
Fecteau had 52.92.
Hungarian champion Julia Sebestyen, who almost fell off the figure
skating map last season, continued blazing an impressive comeback
trail. She was first in the women's short program with 54.36 points.
Elena Sokolova of Russia got 52.08 and Sarah Meier of Switzerland
got 50.92. No Canadians were entered.
Sebestyen won the Cup of China two weeks ago, and another win
would give her enough points for a berth in the Grand Prix Final
next month.
In 2004, Sebestyen was sixth in the world after becoming the
first Hungarian to win the European title, but she struggled for
the next two seasons. She was 18th at the Olympics and 22nd at
the world championship last winter.
Yoshie Onda of Japan, who is coached in Toronto by former Canadian
champion Josee Chouinard, was eighth among 12.
In ice dancing, Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were
first and Canadian-born Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the United
States were second after the compulsory.
Domnina and Shabalin finished ninth overall at the Olympics and
seventh overall at the world championships last winter. Belbin
and Agosto won Olympic silver and were third at the worlds, and
they'll look to move ahead of the Russians in the original dance
Saturday.
Belbin, 22, was born in Kingston, Ont., and raised in Montreal
before moving to the Detroit region at age 14 to further her skating
career.
This is the fifth of six Grand Prix meets this autumn. The next
meet is in Nagano, Japan, next week. Skaters can earn points from
a maximum of two meets. The top six point-getters in each discipline
qualify for the GP Final in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 14-17.
