体坛英语新闻：Chinese Yan take lead in men's singles on opening day of Cup of China GP

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Yan Han took the lead in men's singles competition after finishing first in the short program of the Cup of China ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, which was opened here on Friday.

Yan collected a career-high 90.14 points to lead all nine skaters in men's singles.

"I told myself I could score more than 90 points after I finished my short program, but I was still quite surprised when I know the score," said Yan, who claimed the gold of 2012 World Junior Championships and became the first man to win the world junior title, "Now I am hoping a same surprise for the free skating tomorrow."

The 17-year-old Yan, who compete on the senior level of international stage for the first year, beat another young skater Maxim Kovtun of Russia to the second place by a 8.3-point gap. Takahiko Kozuka of Japan was the third with 81.62, while Kazakhstan's Denis Ten, the runner-up of last year's World Championship, finished the disappointing fourth out of a routine with elements of low difficulty.

China's famous duo Pang Qing and Tong Jian finished first in pairs short program, scoring 70.28 points. The silver medalists of 2010 Winter Olympics Games presented a perfect performance in front of the Chinese fans. "This would be our final game in Beijing," said Tong, who will retire after the 2014 Winter Olympics together with Pang, "So we are a little too excited and made some mistakes."

Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy of Germany ranked second with 69.07 and another Chinese pair Peng Cheng/Zhang Hao came third at 64.24.

Russian Adelina Sotnikova was the clear leader in the women's singles short program, the 17-year-old Russian scored 66.03 points. Carolina Kostner of Italy, runner-up in 2012 World Championships, ranked second with a score of 62.75.

Another Russian pair Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev, bronze medallist of 2012 World Championships, had 65.70 points in their short dance to lead the ice dancing after the first day of the tournament. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat of France and American pair Madison Chock/Evan Bates followed in second and third.