State of Chinas pairs going forward- will they ever remain as contenders

[judgejudy27]

The Chinese have had a pair on every World podium since 1999 now. That streak seems in serious jeopardy this year though, as the Chinese are not favored to win any medal. A bronze is possible but Kavaguti & Smirnov are favored to win the bronze.

Looking ahead might this be the start of a long drought for China not medalling in pairs. Pang & Tong are near the end of their careers and dont seem that motivated anymore. Sui & Han might end going bust completely once she grows fully. Zhang & Zhang dont seem to be contenders anymore, nor likely to become one again in the future. Nobody else they have coming up is noteworthy right now.

[MR-FAN]

Nope, China's got at least another decade of being contenders

[judgejudy27]

Nope, China's got at least another decade of being contenders

With whom though. Will Sui & Han survive a big growth spurt by her. I really hope they do as I like them, but I have my doubts. It would be some to see some more up and coming Chinese pairs, they have relied on the former big 3 of Shen & Zhou, Pang & Tong, Zhang & Zhang too long without developing enough new teams, and now 2 of those 3 are arguably still out there when they dont even want to be anymore in an attempt to keep China up there (which is becoming increasingly hard for both, which have already peaked in their skating and likely career achievements).

[Jenna]

Yu/Jin and very promising, as are Li/Jiang. China has nothing to worry about in pairs for now.

[MR-FAN]

With whom though. Will Sui & Han survive a big growth spurt by her.

I wouldn't worry about it. Growth spurts aren't as big of a deal for pairs as it is for ladies. I mean worse comes to worst, no more quads, but refined triples instead.

[Yukari Lepisto]

I wouldn't worry about it. Growth spurts aren't as big of a deal for pairs as it is for ladies. I mean worse comes to worst, no more quads, but refined triples instead.

I think it depends, if it's a growth spurt like Dan Zhang's, it'll be very hard. But you know, with China, we probably won't see Sui having a growth spurt at least at the ISU age of 20 just like Dan Zhang..

[Vash01]

The judges seem to love Sui-Han. They won't wait too long to put them on the podium.

[julieann]

China has only had three good pairs teams and now one is gone. Actually I predict the Zhangs are gone as well....sadly. Pang and Tong can run hot or cold but if they can skate as well as they did in the 2010 season they can certainly skate just as well as S/S or V/T when S/S or V/T make mistakes, those teams are not infallible. I just don’t think they are really to compete at that high level yet, but they almost took that gold from S/Z so I wouldn’t count them out from doing it to someone in 2014.

Or P/T can skate as bad as we saw in January which won't get them any higher than 4th-6th at Worlds. They have been out of competition all year and maybe lost their edge so that might affect them. I don’t think K/S are a lock for the bronze they haven’t competed since the beginning of December, he took time off to heal his knee, had stomach surgery; who knows what they will look like. I would just be glad they are going and look ahead to next season. I think both teams should easily beat S/H for with 3rd or 4th place, 5th at the very worst.

Han is a very short pairs man, probably one of the shortest I've ever seen and she will outgrow him soon with her only being 4'7". She can only grow no more than 3" before she will have to find a new partner. She is only 16 (I'm not getting into her age discrepancy ) she will not stay 4'7" so China will have problems very soon with that pair.

China has wonderful young pairs teams that I hope they pay attention to, they really can make a splash and do well if they are nurtured.

[love_skate2011]

It's not dire at all they have S/H and Y/J to take over the aging P/T and Z/Z
S/H has a bright future, the only thing that could hamper that would be if she really has a fake age and will still get a growth spurt and they will lose all their quads. S/H can't make up for anything else, horrendous lines and skating skills but Y/J has potential they have overall great lines and lifts are good.

[Yukari Lepisto]

Han is a very short pairs man, probably one of the shortest I've ever seen and she will outgrow him soon with her only being 4'7". She can only grow no more than 3" before she will have to find a new partner. She is only 16 (I'm not getting into her age discrepancy ) she will not stay 4'7" so China will have problems very soon with that pair.

I think they have at least 3 years before she hits growth spurt , which will be after Sochi.

And I agree with the other post, that I much prefer Y/J

[love_skate2011]

^

If the fake age is true
how old is Sui currently, 14 or 15 ?

[pinky166]

^

If the fake age is true
how old is Sui currently, 14 or 15 ?

14. I want to say her fake age was September 1997.

[letsskate]

14. I want to say her fake age was September 1997.

Sui's actually younger than 14. But Han Yan's the opposite case of Sui. I really can't reveal my source, so people can believe it or not.

[waltzNo1]

Sui's actually younger than 14. But Han Yan's the opposite case of Sui. I really can't reveal my source, so people can believe it or not.

Gosh, how can I believe you if you don't even know the correct name of the boy in S/H pair? The boy's name is Cong Han!

[Rafter]

Sui's actually younger than 14. But Han Yan's the opposite case of Sui. I really can't reveal my source, so people can believe it or not.

She looks about 11 or 12 to me.

It will be interesting to see how she grows and if she gets too tall for him. He isn't very tall.

[letsskate]

Gosh, how can I believe you if you don't even know the correct name of the boy in S/H pair? The boy's name is Cong Han!

you've never heard of Han Yan before??? I'm not talking about Cong Han! although you're right, cong han is also the opposite case of Sui.

p.s. my bad, just noticed this is chinese pairs only thread. i thought it's chinese skating in general..

[jlai]

It also occurs to me that Yan Han could be older than 15, and Sui younger. But I have never seen any of the two up close so I must put a wild speculation disclaimer here.

[judgejudy27]

I think they have at least 3 years before she hits growth spurt , which will be after Sochi.

And I agree with the other post, that I much prefer Y/J

The thing is would they even be a real contender by Sochi. I dont see them challenging Volosozhar & Trankov or Savchenko & Szolkowy by that point. At best they might be a bronze contender by then. It would seem for me they would most likely have their greatest success after 2014, so if she will outgrow him at that point, then they probably dont have much future of great success at all.

[Yukari Lepisto]

The thing is would they even be a real contender by Sochi. I dont see them challenging Volosozhar & Trankov or Savchenko & Szolkowy by that point. At best they might be a bronze contender by then. It would seem for me they would most likely have their greatest success after 2014, so if she will outgrow him at that point, then they probably dont have much future of great success at all.

Judging by 4CC scoring, they're getting +GOE for crashed/underrotated quad twist, double footed throw, and wonky lifts, and accumulated 135 points total.. at this rate, if one of the top two pairs falter, they can really get a surprise placement.. not that it should be that way.

[julieann]

Judging by 4CC scoring, they're getting +GOE for crashed/underrotated quad twist, double footed throw, and wonky lifts, and accumulated 135 points total.. at this rate, if one of the top two pairs falter, they can really get a surprise placement.. not that it should be that way.

I think everyone can agree they were over scored at 4CC hopefully the judges will recognize that when they are at worlds when S/H are up against skaters that really have skating skills.

Also, the top 5 pairs in world were not at 4CC, 3 are Russian 1 is German and the 1 from China didn't go. Worlds will be a test for how how bad S/H will be held up for their poor skills against the rest of the top pairs.