FIGURE SKATING: CHAIT, SAKHNOVSKY, SEROV SHINE AT SKATE ISRAEL
By Lionel Gaffen
Jerusalem Post
September 26, 2005
In front of a wildly cheering, highly partisan crowd at Skate Israel,
Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky captivated the audience and Roman
Serov vaulted into first place to earn gold medals Sunday at the
Canada Center in Metulla.
The International Skating Union sanctioned event is the only
international figure skating tourney in Israel.
Chait and Sakhnovsky, the sixth ranked pair in the world, performed
for the first time this year in competition. Their intricate movements
in the Free Dance to Ravel’s Bolero earned them a score of 99.69 –
which combined with their scores from the Compulsory Dance and Original
Dance gave them a total of 209.50.
The Israeli stars impressed everyone in attendance, including the
judges.
Chief referee Christopher Buchanan of Great Britain told The Jerusalem
Post that he was “very happy to see the level of the skating that
I’ve seen here this week… There has been a great improvement in
[Chait and Sakhnovsky’s] style, – they appear to have benefited from
the change in their training as they have a very interesting program
that was very well skated.”
The duo is now coached by Evgeny Platov, the only two-time Olympic gold
medalist in Ice Dancing, and Alexander Zhulin, a former world champ.
Gary Hoppe, another one of the judges, called their Free Dance
performance “wonderful.”
“Their choreography and interpretation were very good, and they had
very nice lifts,” Hoppe said.
Russians Oxana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, ranked eighth in the world,
took silver in their first appearance on Israeli ice with a 179.57
score. Armenia’s Anastasia Grebinkina and Vazgen Azroyan scored
172.06 for the bronze, followed by Israeli siblings, Alexandra and
Roman Zaretsky (155.06) and Hungarians Zsuzsanna Nagy and Gyorgy Elek
(130.23).
In the Ladies dancing, Israel’s Tamar Katz was shut out of a medal,
as she finished fourth with a total score of 96.38.
Viktoria Pavuk of Hungary was easily the best of the Ladies on the
ice and demonstrated a graceful presence in winning the gold medal
with a 152.41 total. Sara Falotico of Belgium (113.31) was second
and Russia’s Elena Zhitkova (101.51) third.
Roman Serov came from behind with a vibrant and nearly flawless Free
Skate performance to the music of “World of Technology” sandwiching
in Robert Miles’s “Children” to bypass his competition and vaulting
into a well deserved first place with a 169.51 score.
“It was very hard to begin my full training program this summer,
because the rink always seemed to be packed, so most of my training
was confined to the early morning hours,” Serov said. “So far, I’ve
been working without a coach, but my coach, Viktor Kudriavtsev,
will come from Russia before the Grand Prix events.”
Platov thinks that Serov can do better. “Serov certainly has the
potential, and needs a coach that will push him even harder.”
Hot on his skates was Alexander Magerovski of Russia, who moved up to
second after the Short Program with a 168.57 total, while countryman
Alexander Shubin dropped from first place after the Short Program to
third with a 168.50 combined score.
The 2005 Skate Israel came to a close with a beautifully displayed
Gala event.
Both Dance couples and Serov have been invited to two Grand Prix
events this year, the level that ranks only below the European and
World Championships.
All of them will be at the Cup of China on November 3-6, with Chait
and Sakhnovsky then taking part in the Cup of Russia on November
24-27. The Zaretskys and Serov will compete in the NHK Trophy in
Japan in early December.