by Sal Zanca, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online
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| Emily Hughes Photo by Guang Niu, Getty Images Sport |
2006 Cup of China Results and Photos
(11/9/06) - There is an American leader in one of the events after the first day at Cup of China, the third ISU Grand Prix competition of the season.
No it wasn't reigning Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, who were expected to breeze back into competition after about seven months of touring, shows and practice.
It is Emily Hughes, who is quickly shedding the label of “the sister of you-know-who.”
The younger Hughes had trouble remembering the last time she led an event like this, but she was nevertheless in first after the ladies short program.
Meanwhile, Belbin and Agosto were behind Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin in the compulsory dance.
In the pairs short program, Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins are in sixth place despite scoring a zero on one move, while Bebe Liang lies in fifth in the ladies event.
The men's event, with Skate America silver medalist Evan Lysacek and Scott Smith, begins Friday.
Ladies
Getting the first Grand Prix out of the way was helpful to Emily Hughes. Although she was just fifth at Skate America in Hartford two weeks ago, Hughes used the experience and toned down some things to do a clean program and take first in China.
“I already did this program once and I knew the parts I had to focus on, and I was really happy the way it turned out,” she said. “I came into this competition with a little different mind set from Skate America. Every time I go out I want to do a better program.”
And she did have a better program to the music of “Carmen.” She scaled down her combination from Skate America, where she planned a triple Lutz-triple toe but only managed a single toe on the back end.
“My combination was questionable at Skate America, so being able to come out here and do a clean program and moving on from Skate America was big for me.”
She scored 56.74 points to edge out Yukari Nakano, another member of the strong Japanese ladies crew, who followed with 54.96. Third was former European champion Julia Sebestyen with 52.82.
Bebe Liang fell hard on the first part of her combination and scored 49.72 for fifth, but she still beat Russian Elena Sokolova, who had a lot of moves downgraded and was in seventh at 48.50.
Hughes opted out of doing a triple Lutz in combination.
. “My triple Lutz combination has not been as good as it could be, so we decided to change the combination to the (triple) flip, hoping that it would get a higher score and it did.”
Now she has to stay in first in the free skate on Saturday. “I am hoping to put out a similar program to what I did today.”
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| Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto Photo by Guang Niu, Getty Images Sports |
Both Belbin and Agosto were glad to be back into competition, even though they weren't where they wanted to be in the standings.
They were second to Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin but by only .11 – 36.86 to 36.75. Third was another Russian duo, Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski with 31.61.
Belbin expects to do better in Friday's original dance.
"We have been doing really well all week, but obviously we had a weak performance," Belbin said. "We weren't really all there, but it's fine for the first time out and we will do much better in the OD (original dance)."
Belbin and Agosto are looking to make up for a disappointing World Championships that found them third after a silver medal at the Olympics.
"We feel good about this season,” Belbin said. “It has been a challenge getting ready in a short amount of time. We are approaching it with a good mental attitude.”
“It felt good to get out there and get back to competition,” Agosto added. “It was pretty good. It is nice to get the competition kicked off finally.”
He, too, looks to come back in the original dance.
“We are looking forward to the original dance and to step it up and have a good time.”
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| Students from a military university stand up for the Chinese national anthem. Photo by Guang Niu, Getty Images Sport |
As expected, the Chinese pairs dominated the short program and received wild cheers for their every move, even though they were not always quite in unison.
Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao lead over current World champions Qing Pang and Jian Tong, 68.90-62.00.
Vlassov and Meekins, making their senior Grand Prix debut, were in sixth at 43.76, although the received zero points for one of their spins.
“We had zero points for our pairs spin because I put my foot down and it has to be a combination spin,” Meekins said. “That was just a silly mistake. We did all the hard things for our first time and it felt pretty good.”
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