Asada, Takahashi kick off GP title defense

Source:AFP-Global Times Published: 2013-10-17 23:03:01

Reigning International Skating Union Grand Prix champions Daisuke Takahashi and Mao Asada of Japan open the defense of their men's and ­women's crowns respectively starting at Skate America, the first in the elite six-leg figure skating series which gets underway in Detroit starting Friday.

As Olympic champions Evan Lysacek and Kim Yu-na miss the Grand Prix season, the Japanese are looking to hit hard in a series where the top six skaters in each category - men, women, pairs and ice dancing -advance to the final in Fukuoka, Japan from December 6 to 8.

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled for Sochi from February 7 to 23 with the world championships back in Japan in Saitama, from March 24 to 30.

Takahashi, winner of Japan's first men's Olympic figure skating medal and world title, claimed their first men's Grand Prix Final crown at Sochi's Iceberg Arena in December ahead of compatriot Yuzuru Hanyu and reigning world champion Patrick Chan.

Chan won a third world title at home in Canada in March and is favorite for Olympic gold as he opens his campaign in Skate Canada from October 25 to 27 before a Paris date from November 15 to 17.

Lysacek has not competed since taking gold in Vancouver in 2010. Initally slated for Skate America, he withdrew last month because of an abdominal tear, and the chances of him defending his title are slim.

Olympic hosts Russia are desperate to find themselves back on the top spot on the podium after a title wipeout for the first time in 50 years in Vancouver.

Veteran star Yevgeny Plushenko, the 2006 ­Olympic champion and two-time silver ­medalist, will test his form in the Cup of Russia from ­November 22 to 24, as the 31-year-old bids to compete in a fourth Olympic Games.

In the women's event, Asada will have to wait to renew her rivalry with Kim, sidelined for two months with a right foot injury picked up in late September.

Two-time world champion Asada, the Olympic silver medalist, will test her form at Skate America, the only Grand Prix that she has never won and where she last competed in 2006, before taking part in the NHK Trophy from November 8 to 10.

Italy's 2012 world champion Carolina Kostner, another Olympic contender, will compete in the Cup of China from November 1 to 3 and the Cup of Russia.

Russia's hopes in the women's event lie with former world junior champions Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Adelina Sotnikova.

AFP - Global Times



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