Figure skaters Pang and Tong clinch second world champion title
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China's Olympic silver medallists Pang Qing and Tong Jian continued to chase the "impossible dream" with amazing performance, clinching their second world champion title at the World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday.
"The impossible dream in my mind is figure skating. Everybody here wants to pursue the title but few can make it. What we can do is just trying our best," said soulful Tong who paired up Pang to win the gold with a total score of 211.39 points.
Pang and Tong, both 30, led the strong squad competitors including two-time defending world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy and European champions Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov after Tuesday's short program with a personal best result of 75.28.
As the last pair to perform in Wednesday's free skating, they came onto the rink followed an audience ovation for Savchenko and Szolkowy, as the German pair earned 135.22 points from their show and were ranked first with an overall score of 204.74 points.
"I watched their free skating and they performed very well," said Tong. "I know the pair is always a big threat to us, but what can we do? we can only pull out all the stops in the competition. I believe that's what the judges and audience also want."
Pang and Tong placed fourth in the short program at Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, but managed to bag home the silver medal after hitting the highest score of 141.81 points in history in free skating with a flawless display.
This time, they accompanied by the music of "impossible dream" again to skate not perfectly, but well enough to finish first.
"I'm so pleased. The rink impressed a lot because it's also the rink of the 2006 Olympic Games," said Tong who had to settle for a fourth place with Pang at Turin Games four years ago.
"I must thank the audience after taking the world champion title again," said the 2006 world champion. "Their passion encouraged me to skate well today."
Olympic fourth finishers Kavaguti and Smirnov from Russia grabbed the bronze in 203.79 points even though Kavaguti fell twice in their free skating.
Chinese pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao were fifth after Russian duo Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, but the 2006 Olympic silver medallists were quite satisfied with their performance at the season-ending event.
"We have been struggling for the whole season and didn't have enough confidence," said Zhang Dan. "But we managed to show our short program and free skating both completely this time. Therefore, we are happy."
In the men's event,Olympic bronze medallist Daisuke Takahashi from Japan took advantage of the absence of Olympic champion Evan Lysacek from the United States and Russia's three-time Olympic medallist Evgeni Plushenko to lead the short program in 89.30 points.
Patrick Chan from Canada placed second with a score of 87.80 points and French Brian Joubert received the third highest score of 87.70 points.
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