March 11, 2010  Print Email | Asada and Kim renew argument at Los Angeles World
2009 World Figure Skating Championships gets underway
Posted by Agencies at 08:57 AM GMT on Mar 23, 2009 | LOS ANGELES (AFP): Japan's Mao Asada and South Korea's Kim Yu-Na will headline a strong field as they attempt to jump and spin their way to glory at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships which gets underway tomorrow at Staples Center Arena.
In what could be a preview of the gold medal showdown at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the pair is hoping that a flap over whether Japanese skaters intentionally obstructed Kim during her warmups doesn't overshadow this week's competition.
"I am trying to find a way to deal with it," Kim recently told South Korea's SBS network. "Particularly at this year's Four Continents championship. I felt it was a bit terrible. Too much."
The Japan Skating Federation moved quickly to deny its skaters had blocked Kim from practising her moves during warm ups at the Four Continents Championship last month in Vancouver, Canada.
The federation said Japanese skaters "compete in keeping with sportsmanship and it is not true they have intentionally committed acts of obstruction."
The two 18-year-olds have each won three and lost three in their head-to-head career international meetings.
Kim will have the crowd on her side at Staples Center thanks to Los Angeles' sizeable South Korean community which is expected to turn out in force.
Kim's victory at the Four Continents was a major breakthrough for South Korea's first international figure skater.
Three months ago she led after the short programme at the Grand Prix final only to be overtaken by Asada. At last year's Tokyo Worlds, Kim led after the short programme before being passed by Asada and her Japanese teammate Miki Ando.
 Asada, who was turning triple axles since she was 13, is a three-time Japan champion. She was Japanese champion at 15 and does quadruples in practice.
She is a skating icon in Japan, filming a commercial with her pet poodle, Aero.
Ando is the lone women to have completed a quad in competition.
The ladies field also includes 2008 World Championship runner-up Carolina Kostner of Italy.
The men's title is open for the taking, following the retirement of last year's gold medallist Jeff Buttle of Canada and the absence of 2008 bronze medallist Johnny Weir, of the US, who didn't make the American squad after placing fifth at the nationals.
Four Continents and two-time Canadian champion Patrick Chan is expected to challenge for the title.
Chan, who hopes to add the quad to his arsenal by the 2010 Olympics, scored 88.90 points in his short programme at the Four Continents, the second highest score since the International Skating Union revamped it’s scoring system to reward skill instead of reputation.
Only Russian Evgeni Plushenko's 90.66 at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy was higher.
Plushenko is still nowhere to be found after announcing he would return to competition.
European champion Brian Joubert, of France, will look to win his second world title to go with his first in 2007.
Four Continents runner-up Evan Lysacek and his American teammate Jeremy Abbott are also entered.
China's dynamo duo of Pang Qing and Tong Jian are podium contenders along with last year's World Champions Aliona Savchenko Robin Szolkowy of Germany. Former champions Pang and Tong, who both turn 30 next year, have already won twice this season in pairs at the Grand Prix and Four Continents.
The ice dance crown is up for grabs after reigning World champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder pulled out because of an injury. Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin will contend after skipping the event in 2008. They placed fifth in 2007.
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