体坛英语新闻：China's figure skating duo Pang, Tong defend Four Continents pairs trophy

VANCOUVER, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian Thursday won the pairs figure skating at the ISU Four Continents Championship held in Vancouver, Canada's host city of 2010 Winter Olympics.

    The Chinese duo skated a near-flawless performance in the free program that included a couple of huge lifts and throws en route to a score of 194.94.

The only noticeable mistake they made was being slightly out of synch on a side-by-side spin.

China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian compete in the Pairs Free Skate during the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver, British Columbia February 5, 2009. The couple placed first in the competition with 194.94.

    Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, finished second with 185.62 points, and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China were third with 174.98.

    "They (Pang and Tong) did a perfect job today. I am quite glad with it," Bin Yao, head coach of China's figure skating national team, told Xinhua shortly after the event.

China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian compete in the Pairs Free Skate during the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver, British Columbia February 5, 2009. The couple placed first in the competition with 194.94.

"But you can see that the Canadian pair also skated a very strong performance. It's hard to predict who will be the winner in the coming Winter Games," Yao said when asked of his expectations for the 2010 event.

    In ice dancing, Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are poised to win their second consecutive Four Continents title as they scored 60.90 points for Thursday's original dance, taking a total 97.30 points into Friday's free dance final.

    American pairs Davis Meryl/White Charlie and Samuelson Emily/Bates Evan got the second and third place with 95.65 and 90.89 points respectively.

    China's Yu Xiaoyang and Wang Chen, Wang Jiayue and Gao Chongbo, are the 7th and 8th.

    The Four Continents figure skating tournament is dotted as a test event for the 2010 Winter Olympics.