Updated

 

• Nov. 24,2006: NRI Canada's skaters, Emanuel Sandhu in third place at Grand Prix

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NRI Sandhu, Skater made critical mistakes in his performance.
Sandhu opened his performance with a perfect quad-triple
combination but popped out of his next jump, a triple Axel

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TURINO, Italy, Feb 11, 2006
Ramesh Malhotra

Canadians Emanuel Sandhu and Jeff Buttle stumble while Russian Evgeny Plushenko won the short program of the men's figure skating competition Tuesday

Johnny Weir of USAfinished second and Swiss skater Stephane Lambiel placed third.

Emanuel Sandhu and Buttle andmade critical mistakes in their performances. Buttle ended up in sixth place, one spot ahead of Sandhu.

"I don't know what to say about that," admitted Sandhu when he talked to CBC after his skate. "It's an easy jump for me.

"I think, maybe, I just wasn't right in the moment and it got away from me."

Later in his skate, Sandhu touched both hands to the ice when he tried to land a triple Lutz.

"I'm just disappointed overall."

Canada's third skater, Shawn Sawyer placed 12th. He skated with flair and executed a solid routine that included a superb triple loop. He scored 67.20, a personal-best score.

NRI, Sandhu, Skater, 3-time Canadian Champion and 2004 ISU
Grand Prix Champion, have chances in Torino

TURINO, Italy, Feb 11, 2006

Emanuel Sandhu will compete in the men's singles event that begins Tuesday. He was to have made his Olympic debut four years ago but an knee injury forced him to withdraw in Salt Lake City.

Sandhu did not participate in the opening ceremonies Friday.

Emanuel has been one of the brightest stars in men's singles skating for years. He placed second at the Canadian National Championships five times ... in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2005, and has been Canadian Champion three times, in 2001, 2003, and 2004

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He's also the most exotic-looking among the men's competitors, thanks to his Indian-Italian background.

He loves to sing!!! In his free time Emanuel enjoys spending time at Karaoke bars, and he would like to pursue a career in singing and performing at some point in his future.

He's known to be headstrong, to speak his mind, and to sometimes be downright rude. Well, all I can say about that is that the first two are good virtues to have ... and the third ... well, we all have bad days every now and then, and personally, he was nice, friendly and polite to everyone whenever I met him, so go figure.

• He finished 9th at the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver, where he started off with a mistake-ridden short program only to finish with a near-perfect long program (he was ranked 5th in free skate, which makes you wonder just how far he could have gone with a clean short program). In early 2002 he injured his knee during a routine practice session, causing him to withdraw from both the Olympic Games and World Championships that year in order to undergo surgery.
• The 2002 - 2003 season was a good one for him!
  He seemed to be more consistent, skating at various shows and competitions, placing 2nd at Skate Canada, winning another Title at the Canadian National Championships, and finishing 8th at the 2003 World Championships in Washington, D.C. with two great programs. Granted, he two-footed some of his jumps, but he remained one of only a handful of skaters not to fall during the men's free skate!
• But that is nothing compared to the 2003 - 2004 season ...
  In December 2003 Emanuel achieved his greatest success so far ... winning the Grand Prix Final in Colorado Springs, USA, ahead of world champion Evgeny Plushenko!!!
  A truly amazing success (especially considering he'd come into the competition as a subsitute) ... and most likely a very special early Christmas gift for Emanuel!!!
  He followed that by winning his third Canadian title in early January 2004 --- he skated a near-perfect free program at Canadian Nationals, thus proving that his two great programs at the Grand Prix Final were more than just a fluke --- and two weeks later winning the Silver at the 2004 Four Continents Championships!!! At the 2004 World Championships Emanuel won his qualification group, but then made some mistakes in the Short Program. He came back strong with a good Free Skate, finishing in eighth place overall.
• As for the 2004 - 2005 season ... he definetely got a good start, winning Skate Canada and finishing third at Trophee Eric Bompard, thus qualifying for the Grand Prix Final for the first time in his life. He finished 4th at that event, following that with a silver medal at the 2005 Canadian Nationals.
  At the 2005 World Championships he managed to open both his Short and Long Programs with a beautiful 4/3 combo each ... something he has struggled with at past World Championships.
  Though neither program was free of mistakes Emanuel got the third-highest score in the free skate, finishing in 7th place overall.
• As you may have guessed, I personally love his skating!!!
• Artistically, he's one of a kind!!!
  His spins and step sequences are among the best in the world. And he's not afraid to tackle difficult music (who else could skate a show program to Justin Timberlake's "Like I love You" and make it look good???).
  On a good day, with everything working the way it's supposed to, I daresay that he could beat everyone (and yes, that does include the Russians, as proven at the GPF ...!).
  He'll make his way onto the podium at the World Championships .... I'm quite sure of it.
  And there are few who would deserve it more than him!

  Kudos to his coach and choreographer Joanne McLeod (who's also very nice, by the way) for creating these beautiful programs, and to Emanuel for presenting them in such a wonderful and unique way!
  Isn't it great to have a skater for once who isn't doing the same old stuff everyone else is doing, who dares to be different???

  Well, and if all that isn't enough ... he's also one of the greatest guys you'll ever meet. Very nice, good-humoured, and down-to-earth.

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• Third time's the charm?
  After missing the 1998 Nagano Games because of a controversial decision (see below) and missing the 2002 Salt Lake Games because of injury, Emanuel Sandhu will make his Olympic debut at age 25 in Torino. He's had the best Grand Prix season of his career in 2005-06, winning at both Skate Canada (where he was sixth after the short program) and Cup of China (where he was fourth after the short). Considering the quality of his competition at those two events, those results bode well for Sandhu's chances in Torino. In China, Sandhu beat reigning world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, and in Canada, he beat fellow Canadian Jeffrey Buttle , the world silver medalist.
• Consistently inconsistent
  Sandhu is one of the world's most talented skaters, but his career has been marked by wild inconsistency. When he's "on," he's capable of beating the world's best, as he showed at the 2003-04 Grand Prix Final in Colorado Springs. Sandhu was a last-minute replacement entry into that competition, but he ended up beating Yevgeny Plushenko and winning the event. Sandhu was also brilliant at the 2001 Canadian Championships, where a spectacular program earned him one score of 6.0 for technical merit and his first of three Canadian national titles. But he's also had some epic collapses in his career. At the 2004 World Championships, for example, Sandhu -- fresh off his victory over Plushenko -- won his group in the qualifying round and appeared prepared to challenge for his first world medal. A disastrous short program, however, ranked him only 13th in that phase of the competition, out of striking distance of the podium (he ultimately placed eighth). And again, at the 2005 Worlds, a poor short program (11th best) left Sandhu out of medal range. Though he turned in the third-best free skate in Moscow, he placed only seventh overall.
• Naga-no
  Though Canada had qualified three men's figure skating spots for the 1998 Nagano Olympics, it opted to send only two entrants -- and Sandhu wasn't one of them. Sandhu placed second at the 1998 Canadian Nationals, behind Elvis Stojko and ahead of third-place finisher Jeff Langdon. But because Langdon had already qualified for the Olympics under the criteria set by the Canadian Olympic Association, he was named to the team along with Stojko. The Canadian Figure Skating Association appealed to have the 17-year-old Sandhu, who had skated beautifully at the Nationals, put on the team. But the appeal was denied because Sandhu had not met the qualification criteria (he lacked competition appearances because of October 1997 knee surgery). Stojko and Langdon went to Nagano (placing second and 12th, respectively), and Sandhu stayed home. He suffered another Olympic disappointment in 2002 when a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the Salt Lake Games before the competition; he flew home to have surgery.

Dancing background
Sandhu's impeccable posture and extension on the ice betray his classical dance training. He started ballet and jazz at age 3, and at 11 began studying at the renowned National Ballet School in Toronto. Only 100 dancers every year are accepted into that school, whose graduates usually end up joining a professional dance company. Sandhu, who first took to the ice at age 9 (his mother told him, "all Canadians must learn to skate") continued to skate while in ballet school. But by 11th grade he was only finding 15 minutes a day to skate, and was forced to make a choice. He chose figure skating, leaving school and eventually moving to Vancouver to train. Sandhu still dances several times a week, and he says that floor work enhances his skating.

• Unique choreography
  Known for his innovative and sometimes abstract choreography, Sandhu's 2006 Olympic free skate, set to original music by Gordon Cobb, contains an unusual spin move that he calls a "no-partner death spiral."(The death spiral is a pairs skating element.) "I've taken a few spills on that particular move," he admits. " I think it just came from experimenting and trying to push the body in all different planes of direction." Sandhu says that a lot of his choreography is inspired by modern dance. "[Modern dancers] do a lot of stuff that is off-centered. And with the new judging system, that is exactly what they're asking for -- to explore movement which is beyond the center. And so that's where the originality of these moves came up. We've worked hard on the program and I really enjoy it."
  

• Sandhu as one of the most gifted skaters in the world, if not the most gifted, but added that Sandhu "never pulls all the pieces together and delivers" at critical times
  
• BIOGRAPHY
  
  

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Lokraj Singh Sandhu (Father)