Pang, Tong ready for home adieu

 Former figure skater couple Shen Xue (left) and Zhao Hongbo pose with Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhao Wen during the 50-day countdown for the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, at Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai yesterday. — Dong Jun

Veteran Chinese figure skating pair Pang Qing and Tong Jian have confirmed their participation at the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships which will be held in Shanghai on March 23-29.

The silver medalists at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, currently coached by retired world and Olympic champion Zhao Hongbo, are among the three Chinese pairs that will take part in the Shanghai event at Oriental Sports Center.

"They are in very good form currently, even better than they were during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games," Zhao said yesterday. Zhao revealed that Pang and Tong had told him that it would be their last world championship appearance.

The pair, both aged 35, will attend next week's Four Continents Championships in Seoul as a warm up before competing in the first world championships to be held in China in another 50 days' time.

Zhao and wife/partner Shen Xue have been named image ambassadors of the event. Young athletes and figure skating lovers with local clubs will also be invited to attend the event as voluntary staff.

Eight-year-old Amano Mami of Japan, who has been learning figure skating at a club in Songjiang District for 3-1/2 years, is one of the 150 selected children to serve for the event. "I love skating and I want to compete in the Olympic Games in the future," Mami, whose mother is Chinese and father Japanese, told Shanghai Daily.

She counts Japanese male skater Yuzuru Hanyu as her idol. But 12 hours of training every week have left the girl with bruises over her legs and knees, tugging at her mother's heartstrings. "Her room is filled with the smell of safflower oil, which we use to help ease her pain," Mami's mother Du Pin said. "It hurts to see her falling on ice during training, but we will try to be supportive as long as she is keen on the sport."

Mami's friend Vanessa from Germany, who is also a member of the figure skating club in Songjiang, will also attend the world championships. Both will give performances and help pick up stuffed toys or like tossed into the ring by spectators during the competition.

"(Skating) is my passion, not that I want to win anything or achieve a goal," said the 10-year-old, who has been learning figure skating for five years. With a German father and Russian mother, Vanessa studies in an international school. "Skating and watching skating makes me feel like I am back home (in Europe)," she said.

The Shanghai championships will feature the world's top skaters competing in men's and women's singles, pairs and ice dancing. For more information visit the official website www.wfsc2015.com.

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