Samsung Anycall Cup of China in Beijing opened today (Thursday) with the Compulsory Dance, Pairs and Ladies Short Programs. Samsung Anycall Cup of China is the third of six events in the series.

Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The Compulsory Dance for the Cup of China was the Tango Romantica. This dance was invented by Russian ice dancers Liudmila Pakhmova/Alexander Gorshkov and their coach Elena Tchaikovskaya. It was first performed in 1974.
Reigning World Champions Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov of Russia danced to the lead with Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski (ISR) and Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali (ITA) following in second and third.

Navka/Kostomarov produced a confident Tango Romantica to earn 36.83 points (17.18 element score/19.65 program component score). “The Tango is our favorite dance”, Navka said. “We like it, although it’s a bit long”, her partner joked. “I think it was a good beginning for us.” Referring to Navka’s injury (stress fracture) earlier this fall, he continued: “Maybe we would have needed two more weeks. It’s still physically not so easy to do the programs. But I think it will be fine. We’ll improve from one competition to the next.”

Chait/Sakhnovski received 34.23 points (16.26/17.97) for their performance of the Tango. “To skate last was hard, because of the tracings in the ice, but we did well. I really like the Tango, because it has many steps. The more steps, the better it is”, Sakhnovski commented. “We’ll continue to fight tomorrow.”
Faiella/Scali scored 32.02 points (15.52/16.51) for the Tango Romantica. “We felt good on the ice today. We had a little wobble, though. I caught a tracing in the ice and I almost fell, but I held on”, Scali revealed. “I like the Tango. It’s soft but it has character and power inside. In the past, we weren’t so strong in the compulsories, but we worked very hard to improve them.”
Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe (CAN) are just a little bit behind in fourth place with 31.58 points. Kristin Fraser/Igor Lukanin (AZE) are fifth with 29.15 points. 

Pairs, Short Program

Next to skate were the pairs. Russia’s Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov won the first portion of the pairs event. Qing Pang/Jian Tong of China came in second while Dorota Zagroska/Mariusz Siudek of Poland ranked third in the Short Program.
Petrova/Tikhonov put out a solid performance to “Sarabande” that featured a side by side triple toeloop, a double twist, strong spins and a difficult lift with a flip out exit. The throw triple loop was somewhat shaky but clean. However, they finished behind their music and received a time deduction of one point. The reigning World silver medalists picked up 62.76 points (34.16 element score/29.60 program component score). “We still are a bit dazed after our long trip. We travelled almost two days”, Petrova said. The couple had missed a connection flight on their way from Canada to China and arrived a day later than planned. “We changed the entry into our death spiral, but we didn’t really have time to practice it, and we also did an extra rotation in our pair spin, therefore we run out of time at the end”, Tikhonov explained. “Overall it was a good short program, especially considering the long trip we had.”
Performing to “Variations on a Theme of Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninov, Pang/Tong hit a throw triple loop, a double twist, a one-armed hand-to-hip lift and a forward inside death spiral that was graded a level four. But Pang landed forward on the side by side triple toeloop and the jump was downgraded to a double. The 2004 World bronze medalists earned 58.64 points (30.12/28.52). “Today wasn’t such a good performance. Qing Pang made a mistake on the side by side toeloop. We hope to do better tomorrow”, Tong told the press.
Zagorska/Siudek opened their routine set to “La Vie en Rose” and “Mack the Knife” with a side by side triple toeloop followed by  throw triple Salchow, a double twist and an interesting lift with many changes of position. The husband-and-wife team was awarded 56.06 points (29.78/26.28). “It was good for the first short program of the season, and we’re very pleased with it. There was just one little mistake in the side by side spin, it was a bit off (out of sync)”, Siudek said.
Reigning World Junior silver medalists Jessica Dube/Bryce Davison (CAN) finished fourth with a nice Short Program that included a side by side triple Salchow and throw triple loop (53.16 points).

Ladies, Short Program
World Champion Irina Slutskaya (RUS) sparkled in the Ladies’ Short Program to take the lead clearly ahead of Japan’s Mao Asada and Shizuka Arakawa.
Slutskaya put out a powerful program to a modern arrangement of “Totentanz” by Franz Liszt. The six-time European Champion nailed a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a high triple flip as well as a double Axel and produced excellent spins, receiving a level four on her flying camel spin, layback spin, change foot combination spin and also her spiral sequence. The Muscovite scored 70.22 points (38.50 element score/31.72 program component score), improving her previous personal best by almost five points. “I’m so happy to have come back to China. This is a good place for me”, Slutskaya said. One year ago she had started her successful comeback at the Cup of China after being sidelined by illness (vasculitis) for several months. “I still can improve my program in some places”, she added.
World Junior Champion Asada made sure that she drew attention in her debut at the international senior scene. The 15-year-old pulled off a triple flip-triple loop combination (the only triple-triple combination of the evening), a triple Lutz, double Axel and beautiful spins to collect 62.92 points (35.60/27.32). Asked about how it feels to compete in her first international senior event, she smiled. “I was always nervous in juniors, and I was nervous here, so I don’t feel a difference. Of course, it felt bigger, the rink is bigger.” Referring to the fact that she competed against such prominent skaters like Slutskaya for the first time, she answered: “I really respect Irina Slutskaya. I’m not at her level yet. She is perfect in eveything she does. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch her performance (as she prepared for her own).”
Arakawa landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination in her program to “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”, but she underrotated the flip. The 2004 World Champion recovered to show strong spins and spirals and a solid double Axel. She was awarded 57.56 points (27.92/29.64). “I knew (in the air) that I wasn’t going to rotate the flip”, the 23-year-old said. “I was really nervous. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to show my best tonight, but it was just the first short program of the season.”
Two-time European bronze medalist Elena Liashenko (UKR) delivered a solid Short Program that featured a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination and nice spins, but she two-footed her triple flip. The Ukrainian is less than one point behind Arakawa with a score of 57.52. China’s Yan Liu is sitting in fifth with 47.52 points.

Results