Figure skating Olympic and world silver medalists Zhang Dan and
Zhang Hao of China will not be competing at the upcoming Asian
Winter Games due to scheduling clash with the World University
Winter Games.
Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, best remembered for coming back from
Dan's horrific fall in the free skate at the Turin Winter Olympics
last February, have been named to represent China at the 23rd World
University Winter Games, which is slated for January17-27 in Turin,
Italy, while the 6th Asian Winter Games will take palce from
January 28-February 4 in Changchun, the capital city of northeast
China's Jilin Province.
Wang Yumin, an official at the country's winter sports
administration center, said the two Zhangs will be China's major
medal prospects at the World Winter Universiade.
"But I don't think their absence will dampen our chances of
winning the pairs event at the Asian Winter Games," said Wang.
"After all, we have two other top pairs - Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo and
Pang Qing/Tong Jian."
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the world title in 2002 and 2003
and took silver in 2004 before missing the world championships for
the next two years after Zhao suffered an Achilles' tendon injury
while practicing a triple toeloop.
After barely missing the medals podium in the Turin Games, Pang
Qing and Tong Jian, ranked third in a nation where pairs are king,
defeated Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao to win their first world crown in
Calgary.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2007)