China expects good finish in figure skating pairs at ISU World Championships

The Chinese figure skating team will leave for Helsinki, Finland on early Sunday to take part in the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, which runs from March 29 to April 2.

China will send Sui Wenjing/Han Cong and Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao to participate in the pairs competition. According to head coach Zhao Hongbo, the two pairs were in good condition.

"We have prepared for the world championships for almost a year," Zhao said. "The two pairs will try their utmost to achieve good results."

The Helsinki Worlds serves as a qualifier for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

"We will do our best to make full participation in the Pyeongchang Games," said Zhang Hao, 32, who just won the Asian Winter Games in Japan in Februay with 21-year-old Yu.

"We are in good form," he added. "Actually we can't wait for the Worlds. It is our first world championships as a pair."

The other pair, Sui and Han, had went through a hard time this season. Sui had a surgery in her ankle in last May and had not been back to competition until the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in February. The defending champions proved their strength and won the title again.

China had planned to send Yan Han and Asian champion Jin Boyang to participate in the Worlds, but Yan broke his shoulder this week and had to miss the competition.

Yan, seventh in the men's competition at the 2014 Sochi Games, will have surgery on Tuesday.

source: Xinhua