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Sunday April 29, 6:46 PMFigure skating: Team Japan wins Japan Open competition(Kyodo) _ Team Japan, led by reigning world champion Miki Ando, successfully defended its title at the Japan Open competition against North America and Europe on Sunday.The host team, consisting of Ando and world silver medalist Mao Asada on the women's side and Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka for the men, combined for a total of 497.47 points for the highest score at Saitama Super Arena. "I'm happy that we could defend the title but I wasn't pleased with my own performance," said Asada, who uncharacteristically fell twice on triple jumps. Oda and Kozuka got Japan off to a strong start to take the lead while Ando also took a spill on a triple but had the highest score among the women to help push Japan to victory in the off-season meet. "It's physically demanding to complete a free program during this (off-season) period," Oda said. Team Europe, featuring men's world champion Brian Joubert of France, was second with 471.11, while third place went to Team North America. |
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