This year's world champions at the men's singles, women's singles and ice dancing events will skate for gold in Beijing today for the Sumsung Anycall Cup of China ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2005.

The competition will get under way today at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium, and several world figure skating champions are set to perform at the weekend.

The champions at the 2005 Figure Skating World Championships this March will gather in Beijing again. Russia's Irina Slutskaya, the women's singles winner, and Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov, the ice dancing champions, will represent Russia, while Switzerland's Stephane Lambiel, the men's champion, is expected to continue his fast spins in the men's pool.

The absence of Chinese top pairs skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo is the only pity of the event. But Pang Qing and Tong Jian, the 2003 Skate America pairs winners and 2004 ISU Grand Prix Finals bronze medallists, will delight the hometown crowd with their artistic performances on ice.

Shen/Zhao withdrew from this year's Grand Prix due to Zhao's severe injury.

In the ladies' pool, Slutskaya will meet the challenge from two Japanese skaters last year's World Championships gold medallist Shizuka Arakawa and Mao Asada, this year's world junior champion. Chinese-American Michelle Kwan, the five-time world champion, had to withdraw from the tournament last week due to a right hip injury.

China's Liu Yan who just finished fourth at Skate Canada, the second stop of the Grand Prix this season will also compete along with another two Chinese skaters, Fang Dan and Hou Na.

The Swiss newly-crowned Lambiel won't be the only favourite in the men's pool as Emanuel Sandhu of Canada, the men's winner at Skate Canada, and China's Li Chengjiang, the bronze medallist of last year's Grand Prix finals, will also strive for gold.

Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski of Israel is another pair competing in ice dancing. They are the bronze medallists at the 2002 World Championships and finished fourth at last year's Grand Prix tournament.

Pang/Tong will compete as the lone Chinese competitors on the home soil since Shen/Zhao the winners of the 2002 and 2003 World Championships and the bronze medallists at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games declared their absence, and Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao, the winner of the opening stop of this season's Grand Prix in America, will instead compete for the Osaka stop at the beginning of next month.

Pang/Tong will confront two strong Russian pairs, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, the multiple world champions, and Natalia Shestakova/Pavel Lebedev.

The competition starts this afternoon and ends on Sunday with an exhibition gala for all the podium finishing skaters.

(China Daily November 3, 2005)