ARMENIA RETURNS TO FIGURE SKATING

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[12:33 pm] 09 December, 2008

After a five-year interval, Armenian figure skaters will compete in
the European figure skating championship to be held in January 2009
in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

The men’s team of figure skaters includes Gegham Vardanyan, 20, while
Ani Vardanyan, 18, will represent Armenia in the women’s team. The
last time Armenia participated in the championship was in 2004.

Gegham and Ani Vardanyan will soon leave for the Latvian capital of
Riga to participate in the sport/instructional meeting.

Nearly 30 countries have been granted the right to participate in
the 2009 European figure skating championship. The leading figure
skaters in 2008 were from France, Russia, Sweden, Italy and Finland.

The European championship will kick off on January 20, while the men
will begin competition on January 21. One of the favorite skaters
from the men’s team is French Brian Zhuber.

In the past couple of years, Anastasia Grebionkina and Vazgen
Azroyan represented Armenia, but these athletes no longer take part
in professional competitions because they currently participate in
different shows taking place in Russia.