Yan nails first GP title

Yan Han of China hung on to his men's short program lead to claim his first Grand Prix title at the Cup of China figure skating championships in Beijing on Saturday.

In the women's draw, 15-year-old Russian Anna Pogorilaya, competing in her first senior Grand Prix, landed seven triples to bound from third to the top of the podium.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France also came from behind in ice dance, leap-frogging principal rivals Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of Russia to defend their 2012 Cup of China win.

Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, the 2013 world silver medalists, came out on top in the pairs.

To the delight of home crowd at Beijing's Capital Gymnasium, 17-year-old Yan, the 2012 world junior champion, pulled off a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination in the free skate to total 245.62 points and thwart impressive Maksim Kovtun of Russia (238.65), who landed two quadruple jumps in the top-scoring free skate.

Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who was third in the short program on Friday, took fifth in the free skate but still achieved a podium finish with 226.92 points.

In the pairs, Savchenko and Szolkowy (201.21) sailed past short program leaders and Chinese veterans Pang Qing and Tong Jian (194.38) to the disappointment of the home crowd.

(China Daily 11/04/2013 page24)