Shen and Zhao Steal Show in Pairs

tsfrank

TOKYO (Reuters) - China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo stole the show with a vintage pairs short program at the World Figure Skating Championships on Tuesday.
The Four Continents champions produced a magical display to post a score of 71.07 and take a significant advantage going into Wednesday's decisive free skate.
Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, previous European Championships winners, looked like finishing in pole position until Shen and Zhao's sparkling routine in the penultimate skate.
``We skate with feeling and with a strong spirit -- that's what keeps me feeling young at heart,'' the 33-year-old Zhao said with a smile.
``It was our personal best score for the short program. That's a surprise but we know the hard work will come tomorrow.''
Savchenko and Szolkowy expressed satisfaction with their score of 67.65 points which put them 0.90 ahead of China's defending world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian.
``Some people think the Chinese will sweep the medals but we have to make sure we split them,'' said Savchenko. ``We still have a difficult job ahead.''
Pang and Tong also performed a superb short program, with Tong punching the air in delight after a successful return following a difficult few months.
CAR ACCIDENT
``I pumped my fist because it felt great to be back,'' Tong told reporters. ``I was in a car accident in January and needed to have 16 stitches.''
``We have had injury problems too and haven't been able to practice as much as we would have liked,'' he added. ``It was great to come back strong like this.''
Olympic silver medallists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao were relegated to 10th on the opening day of the championships after over-rotating on a twisting lift and scoring just 57.00.
Canadian pair Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon seized the early initiative in the ice dance competition.
The world silver medallists scored 38.96 points in the compulsory dance to gain an edge over defending champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria.
Denkova and Staviski, skating in their last official competition, posted 37.42 points with Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin third with 37.29.
Dubreuil and Lauzon were a cut above their rivals, performing the compulsory rhumba with panache.
``Even though we're first it's still very tight. At least we're the world champions of rhumba,'' said Dubreuil, who dazzled in a sequined lime green dress.
The Four Continents champions take a slender lead of 1.54 points into Thursday's original dance. The free dance program takes place on Friday.