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Last dance Season's final Grand Prix, NHK Trophy, opens
Posted: Thursday December 02, 1999 01:43 PM
NAGOYA, Japan (AP) -- The NHK Trophy, the season's sixth and final event of the figure skating Grand Prix, opened Thursday with French pair Marina Annissina and Gwendal Peizerat leading in the ice dance. The defending champions took the lead in the compulsory program, which counts for 20 percent of the total score, putting in a smooth performance and edging on Irina Lobacheva and Iria Averbukh of Russia. The original dance is on Friday followed by Saturday's free dance. In the compulsory dance, Margarita Drobiazko nd Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania were third, followed by Elena Grushina and Rusian Goncharov of Ukraine. Drobiazko and Vanagas have already qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Lyon, France, Jan. 14-16. Figure skaters are allowed to compete in only three of the six Grand Prix events in a season, designating two for points scoring in order to be able to compete in the series final. Two other dance couples, including Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy, and Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, have qualified, leaving two places to be settled at the NHK Trophy. The winning pairs are awarded 12 points, 9 points go to second place, 7 points for third and 5 for fourth. The NHK Trophy has fewer big-name skaters, with Russians Alexei Yagudin, and Irina Slutskaya, Americans Michelle Kwan, Canadian Elvis Stojko, Guo Zhengxin of China and other leaders on the standings skipping the event after qualifying for the series final. Prominent skaters competing include Tania Swewczenko of Germany, world champion Maria Butyrskaya and Yevgeny Plushenko of Russia, Grand Prix Finals winner Tatyana Malinina of Uzbekistan, Japan's Takeshi Honda and American Timothy Goebel.
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