The NHK Trophy in Kumamoto, Japan, continued on Saturday with the Men's Short Program, the Ladies' Free Skating and the Free Dance. The NHK Trophy is the sixth and last event of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.

Men, Short Program

Today's competition started with the Men's Short Program. To the delight of the crowd, Japanese Skaters Takeshi Honda and Yamoto Tamura took the lead in the first part of the competition with Ivan Dinev of Bulgaria in third place.

Honda opened his "Don Quixote" program with a quadruple-triple toelooop combination, but he then fell on his triple Axel. The 2001 Four Continents silver medallist rallied back to complete good spins and a solid triple Lutz out of footwork. Honda received marks ranging from 5.1 to 5.4 for required elements and from 5.6 to 5.8 for presentation. "I don't know what happened on the Axel. The take-off wasn't bad. I should have landed it", the 20-year-old commented. Although Honda has a new short program, "Sing Sing Sing", he went back to using last year's. "I did Sing Sing Sing at the Goodwill Games and at Skate America. Now I did Don Quixote here and in Germany (the Sparkassen Cup). I want to try both and to get the opinion of the judges and others. I haven't yet decided which program to use for the Olympics." Honda's teammate Tamura barely held on to the landing of his quadruple-triple toeloop combination, yet he pulled it off. The program to "Carmen" by Bizet also featured a double Axel and a triple Lutz. The marks went up to 5.5 for required elements and up to 5.6 for presentation. "That was a 100 percent for me", a happy Tamura said. "Well, actually it was 99 percent, because I should face the judges at the end of the program, which I didn't. I got confused somehow. My quad-triple was clean. I thought I would do a double, but then I did a triple toe (as the second jump). I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't known that Takeshi did quad-triple." The Skater admitted to be very nervous. "I was all shaky when I went out there. I thought I can't jump! But then I pulled it off."

Skating next to last, Dinev knew what he had to do. The Bulgarian hit a triple flip, a high triple Axel-triple toeloop and a double Axel and also showed nice footwork in his Tango-program. The performance earned him marks up to 5.5 for required elements and up to 5.7 for presentation. "I wanted to go for the quad (toeloop), but my coach said no, you have to skate a clean program", the 23-year-old explained. "Hopefully, tomorrow I'll not only do a quad, but a quad-triple combination." Dinev is still using his old boots, because he has not had the time to break in new ones after one boot broke shortly before the Cup of Russia. "It's very hard to skate in the old boots", Dinev said. "They are loose around my ankles."

Jeffrey Buttle of Canada is currently siting in fourth place in his first senior Grand Prix event. The Skaters' ordinals were mixed. Honda picked up six first place ordinals, two seconds and one third, while Tamura's and Dinev's ordinals ranged from one to four.

Ice Dancing, Free Dance

Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat of France danced their way to victory. Lithuania's Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas claimed the silver medal and Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviski (BUL) captured the bronze, which is their first Grand Prix medal on this year's circuit.

Skating first in their group, the Bulgarians put in an original performance to "O" from Cirque du Soleil. Their program featured innovative moves and spins. They earned marks up to 5.5 for technical merit and up to 5.6 for presentation.

Next up were Drobiazko/Vanagas. They dazzled the crowd with a powerful program to "Quelques Cris" by Johnny Halliday that featured difficult lifts and intricate footwork. The Judges awarded them marks from 5.5 to 5.7 for technical merit and from 5.7 to 5.8 for presentation. For the husband and wife team it was their first silver medal this year, after two bronze medals at Skate America and at the Troph�e Lalique.

Anissina/Peizerat were the last Couple to take the ice. Their program, named "Liberta", started off well with a spin and twizzles in both directions. Then however, Peizerat fell suddenly on a hop. The team recovered quickly, and the rest of the program was fine, including original lifts and strong footwork.

The fourth place went to Canada's Marie-France Dubrueil/Patrice Lauzon, who delivered a charming interpretation of "Madame Butterfly" and the team qualified for the Final. Elena Grushina/Goncharov (UKR) stayed in fifth place.

"We don't know exactly yet what happened", Peizerat said about the fall. "Of course, we are a little disappointed about the stumble, but we are glad that the audience and the Judges liked our program in spite of it. The rest of the competition was very good. The little mistake is the only thing we are unhappy with."

Vanagas criticized the ice conditions. "This could have been our best performance of the free dance so far if the ice had been better. To skate after 9 couples skated, one hour after the last resurface is difficult. You never know what surprises are waiting for you out there. I think there should be more resurfaces."

The NHK Trophy was the second Grand Prix event for Anissina/Peizerat, who got another 12 points. The French couple now has the maximum of 24 points and will head to the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Kitchener (CAN) on December 13-16. Denkova/Staviski collected 12 points from their two events and are the first substitutes for the Final. The NHK Trophy was a non-scoring event for Drobiazko/Vanagas.

Ladies, Free Program

In a surprising Ladies event, Tatiana Malinina of Uzbekistan surged from third place to first, winning the gold medal. Japan's Yoshie Onda pulled up from fourth place to second claiming the silver medal, while Elena Liashenko (UKR) slipped from second to third and took the bronze.

Skating last, Malinina knew that her competitors had left the door wide open for her to clinch a medal. The 28-year-old had to overcome a shaky start as she fell on her opening triple Lutz, but she did not let this mistake get to her. Malinina hit a triple flip, triple loop, a triple Salchow, a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination and a double Axel. Her only other mistake was a stumble on the triple toeloop. The Uzbek also produced strong spins to earn marks from 5.2 to 5.5 for technical merit and from 5.1 to 5.6 for presentation. The ordinals were mixed, but Malinina came out on top. Seeing the final standings on the score board she let out a cry of triumph. "I was very focused and composed when I went out to skate", Malinina told the press. "I feel joy, because I won, and it is my second title here. Overall, my program wasn't bad except for the first Lutz, but the fall just happened by accident."

Onda produced a good Free Program as well. The 2001 Four Continents bronze medallist landed four clean triples and three high double Axels, but she two-footed the triple loop and popped the flip in her first attempt. The Japanese didn't go for the triple Axel, which she has been practising. "I'm unhappy about my loop and flip today", the 18-year-old said. "My coach told me not to try the triple Axel. When I did my double Axel at the end, I felt relieved. Last year, I had so many things on my mind, but this year, I've just been training and I'm focusing on myself instead of others." Her marks went up to 5.6 for both technical merit and presentation.

Liashenko had ups and downs in her performance too. Skating to a modern piano piece, the Ukrainian produced a triple Lutz-double toeloop at the beginning, but then made mistakes on the triple flip and triple loop. The skater pulled her self together at the end, nailing a triple Salchow-double toeloop combination, a triple toeloop and a double Axel, but her spirals were slow. "I'm able to skate this program better", Liashenko commented. "You should do your jumps on the first attempt and you should do a second triple Lutz at the end. I should have skated just cleaner, and with more freedom."

Overnight leader Angela Nikodinov wasn't able to hold it together in the Free Program. Nikodinov doubled most of her jumps and dropped to fourth place. She also lost her chance to qualify for the Grand Prix Final, as Onda and Malinina pulled up ahead of her. Onda got 9 points in Japan and now has a total 18 from her two events and Malinina has collected 15 points overall (3 in Germany and 12 in Japan). Nikodinov had a total of 14 points and this was a non-scoring event for her.

The NHK Trophy concludes on Sunday with the Men's Free Skating and the Exhibition Gala.

Results

Men

PL	Competitor		Nation	FP

1.	Takeshi HONDA		JPN	0.5
2.	Yamato TAMURA		JPN	1.0
3.	Ivan DINEV		BUL	1.5
4.	Jeffrey BUTTLE		CAN	2.0
5.	Min ZHANG		CHN	2.5
6.	Roman SKORNIAKOV	UZB	3.0
7.	Anthony LIU		AUS	3.5
8.	Makoto OKAZAKI		JPN	4.0


Ice Dancing

PL	Competitor				Nation	CD	OD	FD	TFP

1.	Marina ANISSINA/ Gwendal PEIZERAT	FRA	1	1	1	2.0
2.	Margarita DROBIAZKOPovilas/ VANAGAS	LTU	2	2	2	4.0
3.	Albena DENKOVAMaxim/ STAVIYSKI		BUL	3	3	3	6.0
4.	Marie F.DUBREUILPatrice/ LAUZON		CAN	5	4	4	8.4
5.	Elena GRUSHINARuslan/ GONCHAROV		UKR	4	5	5	9.6
6.	Marika HUMPHREYSVitali/ BARANOV		GBR	6	6	6	12.0
7.	Alia OUABDESSELAM/ Benjamin DELMAS	FRA	7	8	7	14.6
8.	Jessica JOSEPHBrandon/ FORSYTH		USA	8	7	8	15.4
9.	Rie ARIKAWAKenji/ MIYAMOTO		JPN	10	10	9	19.0
10.	Nozomi WATANABE/ Akiyuki KIDO		JPN	9	9	10	19.0


Ladies

PL	Competitor		Nation	SP	FS	TFP

1.	Tatyana MALININA	UZB	3	1	2.5
2.	Yoshie ONDA		JPN	4	2	4.0
3.	Elena LIASHENKO		UKR	2	3	4.0
4.	Angela NIKODINOV	USA	1	4	4.5
5.	Julia SEBESTYEN		HUN	5	5	7.5
6.	Ann Patrice McDONOUGH	USA	8	6	10.0
7.	Fumie SUGURI		JPN	6	7	10.0
8.	Annie BELLEMARE		CAN	7	8	11.5
9.	Kanako TAKAHASHI	JPN	9	9	13.5


For further information please contact:

Aline Bussat Ingwersen, 
ISU Media Coordinator 
Tel: +41 21 612 66 66   
Fax: +41 21 612 66 77
E-mail: [email protected]	

or

NHK Trophy
Mr. Hiroshi Kobayashi, 
Press Officer
Tel: +81 96 212 6901 

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