The development of skating in Southeast Asia & OAS skater updates

[Sylvia]

Good news for the Ice Skating Association of Malaysia (ISAM) -- they have "signed a five-year sponsorship deal with BMW Group Malaysia" ahead of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, scheduled for August 19-30, 2017: http://www.thestar.com.my/sport/oth...ers-receive-heartwarming-boost-from-carmaker/
Excerpt:

A total of eight gold medals will be up for grabs in the SEA Games ice skating – two in figure skating and six in short track speed skating.
Canada-based figure skater Julian Yee and the speed skating relay team of Hazim Syahmi Shahrum, Wong De Vin, Khairil Ridhwan Khalil and Ariff Rasydan Fadzli are tipped to shine judging by their strong performances in the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, in February.
Julian finished a creditable eighth in men’s singles while the relay quartet did well to finish fourth behind powerhouses China, South Korea and Japan.

 

[VGThuy]

I couldn't be happier to hear the news.

 

[Seerek]

Slightly off-topic, but it appears Malaysia already has qualified one quota for Pyeongchang in men's alpine skiing (presumably in slalom), likely going to 19 year old Jeffrey Webb of Washington state. Therefore, if Julian earns a berth at Nebelhorn, it'll be a team of 2 for Malaysia's debut at the Winter Olympic games.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks to @VIETgrlTerifa for posting the link to Michael Christian Martinez's vlog channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgd2Mc320wUkFj_nCsmHPuQ/videos

 

[levineismine]

Meagan Duhamel posted a photo on Instagram with ' new friends and training mates Ryom/Kim'.
I would assume they are there for the summer or a short time?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV7T0aeh7Pg/

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ Looks like it as the North Korean pair are scheduled to compete at the Quebec Summer Championships, August 10-13; I've cross-posted your link in the Pairs discussion thread : https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...17-18-two-skating-as-one.101317/#post-5088446

ETA:

Malaysia on the cusp of Winter Olympics debut, thanks to Julian Yee: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/06/27/malaysia-cusp-winter-olympics-debut-thanks-julian-yee

 

[Sylvia]

"As anticipation builds for next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, a couple of figure skaters from Cambodia are among the more unlikely athletes getting ready for the competition": http://sea-globe.com/cambodias-figure-skaters/

“It’s the first time we’ve put international skaters out, ever. It’s a big opportunity to say that we’re starting out. We have got a lot of young talented skaters and these guys at the moment are the role models,” [Clair] Ben Zina, who arrived in Cambodia four months ago to take the coaching gig, told Southeast Asia Globe.
...
“YouTube is invaluable in a country like this,” she said. “I don’t know what we’d do without YouTube these days for that reason.”
With support from the government and the private sector, Ben Zina has her sights fixed on the horizon, having signed a two-year contract to build a national ice-skating team and a 10-year plan to put a Cambodian on the ice for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

 

[Seerek]

Have to give Clair Zina a lot of credit in working on grass roots development, having worked in Iceland for 6 years prior to her work in Cambodia.

 

[Seerek]

I think Julian should drop the quad sal attempt in the short program and focus on the clean skate, so that he doesn't fall too far behind (as in Minto).

At this point, I see Hendrickx, Righini, JH Lee and Paniot as the best bets for the Olympic spots at Nebelhorn. The final spots to be between Julian, MC Martinez, Majorov and Walker.

 

[Sylvia]

Article on Yi Christy Leung after she finished 6th in Junior Ladies at the Asian Open Trophy in Hong Kong (her new SP to California Dreamin' by Sia was choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne): http://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2...leung-dreams-beijing-2022-help-guru-champions

Leung is not eligible for next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Games because participants need to be at least 15 by August and she was born in December. Leung won bronze at the 2016 National Winter Games and a ninth place in this year’s world junior championships in Taiwan in March.
Her medal helped make the sport a tier A programme at the Sports Institute in April while her world juniors result has given Hong Kong the chance to take part in all seven legs of the annual World Junior Grand Prix, in which Leung would compete in two legs in Australia [#1] and Italy [#7]...

The end of the article:

Meanwhile, Hong Kong will be sending Harrison Wong Jo-yen in the men’s singles to next month’s Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany to compete for the six remaining figure skating spots for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Wong finished fifth and the highest among three Hong Kong athletes at the Asian Open Trophy.

Here's a feature article on Jules Vince Alpe, 18, who is coached by Russians Alexei Fedorov and Maria Safanova in the Philippines and will compete in the Senior Men's event at the SEA Games on August 26-27 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (field will include Julian Yee and Michael Christian Martinez): http://www.rappler.com/sports/speci...pino-figure-skater-southeast-asian-games-2017
Excerpt:

In that short span of time, Jules has improved tremendously – the product of intense focus and fruitful training with national team coach Maria Safonova.
Safonova, a former skater herself in Russia, has been coaching Filipino skaters for a year now together with Alexey Fedorov. They previously worked in Malaysia and Thailand, before becoming visiting coaches in the Philippines two years ago, then taking on full-time coaching duties after a year.
The Russian sees plenty of potential in Filipino skaters, whom she commends for their natural artistry on the ice and coachability.
“They can perform on the ice, which is also really important; it’s not only the technical part,” she said. “Of course the technical part you can teach. But the artistic part is quite hard to teach. It needs to be something that’s natural from the inside. This is one of the strongest [traits] of Philippine skaters.”
Jules spent some time in his coach’s home country the last few months, working on his fundamentals and growing his repertoire of moves.
“We saw a lot of improvement here; we’re still hoping for more. Of course there’s still many things to work on and many things to fix,” noted Safonova. “But he has good potential; he looks really good on the ice – judges like them a lot. So that’s the part we’re trying to use in his program.”

A 3-minute+ video about Alpe is included in this tweet: https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom/status/897295128724856832

 

[Artistic Skaters]

A few years ago, Jules’ second-hand skates finally gave up, as the blade broke in half right down the middle. That was Jules’ only pair, and he had a competition coming up at the time – backing out suddenly became an option.
"Stop crying, Jules," they told him. "Don't worry. The parents will chip in."
“Jules was overjoyed,” Alma said, smiling at the memory. “Those were his very first brand new skates.”

A really nice story. Thanks parents!

 

[Seerek]

Micah Lynette made his debut competing for Thailand today at Southeast Asian Games.

He is Richmond, BC based, and competed at U.S. Jr Natls in 2016-17 (7th, Pacific Sectionals)

 

[mag]

Micah Lynette made his debut competing for Thailand today at Southeast Asian Games.

He is Richmond, BC based, and competed at U.S. Jr Natls in 2016-17 (7th, Pacific Sectionals)

I believe he also tried his hand at ice dance for a while, although I don't know that he and his partner ever actually competed.

 

[Sylvia]

Micah Lynette made his debut competing for Thailand today at Southeast Asian Games.

He is Richmond, BC based, and competed at U.S. Jr Natls in 2016-17 (7th, Pacific Sectionals)

April 2017 Canadian article on Micah Lynette after he became Thailand senior men's champion: http://www.richmond-news.com/sports...wned-national-champion-in-thailand-1.16307879

This Malaysian article has partial SEA Games SP results: https://www.nst.com.my/sports/other...yee-leads-mens-figure-skating-short-programme

Men:
1 Julian Yee MAS 73.03
...
4 Chew Kai Xiang MAS 47.71
...

Ladies:
1 Shuran Yu SGP 53.28
...
7 Aneeta Lingam MAS
9 Aina Sorfina Mohd Aminudin MAS 17.37

ETA:

According to various social media posts, Michael Christian Martinez in in 2nd place (54.47), Micah Lynette (THA) 3rd, and Jules Alpe (PHI) 5th after the Men's SP and Alisson Perticheto (PHI) finished 2nd in the Ladies SP (48.54).

ETA #2 - SP videos by the Philippines' top skaters:

Martinez's "O Fortuna" SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZMFrwUNDdE
Perticheto's SP to "Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_zhFtRuqD0

 

[cgirl8]

A couple more videos:
Julian Yee's SP to "To Build A Home" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y89UJX6Li9U
Kai Xiang Chew's SP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r05QEHgxJo4

 

[Sylvia]

2017 SEA Games inaugural figure skating medalists:

https://twitter.com/SEAGames2017/status/901759466198020097
Gold: Julian Yee (MAS)
Silver: Michael Christian Martinez (PHI)
Bronze: Kai Xiang Chew (MAS)
Podium photos: https://twitter.com/BluecosmosH/status/901789931747500032

https://twitter.com/SEAGames2017/status/901758452774518785
Gold: Shuran Yu (SGP)
Silver: Chloe Ing (SGP)
Bronze: Alisson Perticheto (PHI)

This Malaysian article states Yee's scored 132.40 in his FS: https://www.nst.com.my/sports/other...kai-xiang-win-gold-bronze-mens-figure-skating
Video that shows Yee competing his FS in the mall rink (he kept his entertaining James Brown medley from last season but you can't hear his music here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AbKS9g8oTc

Team PHI results and some total scores: https://www.rappler.com/sports/specials/sea-games/180245-michael-christian-martinez-silver

The 20-year-old Martinez, a 2014 Winter Olympian, had a total score of 171.63 in the short program and long program.
Malaysia's top skater Julian Yee collected the gold by a mile with his total score of 205.43. Another Malaysian settled for bronze in Kai Xiang Chew with his 145.52.
Another Filipino figure skater Jules Alpe wound up in 6th place with a score of 112.89.

Michael Christian Martinez's "Tango de los Exilados"/"El Tango de Roxanne" FS (video in 3 parts): https://twitter.com/TropicalFrost/status/901747409444671488

Philippine Skating Union has posted SEA Games full event fan cam videos on their FB: https://www.facebook.com/pg/philippineskatingunion/videos/

ETA:

Singapore article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...nch-historic-first-winter-sports-gold-9161802

KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore's Yu Shuran on Sunday (Aug 27) won a gold medal in figure skating at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games - a first for both her country and the regional meet, where the sport is making its debut.
The 17-year-old scored a total of 135.52 points while compatriot Chloe Ing, 18, took silver with 128.61 points. Both were well clear of the Filipino [Perticheto's] bronze medalist's tally of 113.40.

Shuran Yu's winning FS to "Young and Beautiful" and "Crazy in Love" from The Great Gatsby film soundtrack: https://www.facebook.com/ChannelNewsAsia/videos/vb.93889432933/10154922461817934/?type=2&theater

 

[Sylvia]

"As anticipation builds for next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, a couple of figure skaters from Cambodia are among the more unlikely athletes getting ready for the competition": http://sea-globe.com/cambodias-figure-skaters/

Have to give Clair Zina a lot of credit in working on grass roots development, having worked in Iceland for 6 years prior to her work in Cambodia.

Here's an article about the 2 Cambodian male figure skaters who competed at the SEA Games and national coach Clair Ben Zina who "is also working with a youth team of about 25 skaters aged seven to 10, and said the Cambodia Ice Skating Federation has started a learn-to-skate programme that has about 150 participants": http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/sea-games-cambodians-skate-over-imperfections

Singapore article with a lovely photo of SEA Games ladies' gold medalist Shuran Yu and silver medalist Chloe Ing, plus additional details/quotes about their performances: http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/sea-games-teens-break-the-ice

ETA: Another article I saw stated Thailand's Natalie Sangkagalo (who trains at SC of Boston) placed 4th.

 

[Chemistry66]

Two things from Nebelhorn to draw attention to:

1) Julian Zhi Jie Yee has qualified Malaysia's first EVER Winter Olympics spot, in any sport. Ever. Congrats to him.

2) Joanna So of HKG just skated her FS, and raised her ISU PB total score by a massive 32 points! Go Joanna!

 

[DDNatalia]

With the next 2 Winter Olympics in Asia (reasonably similar time zones), hopefully this will provide incentive to increase exposure and build momentum for winter sports programs across various sports.

 

[Seerek]

You have to give those SE Asian federations a lot of credit in making it a priority to attend the Junior Grand Prix events in Europe despite the long journeys (3 flights to Zagreb: eek!). Getting those skaters out there just as they turn junior age eligible (in this case, 2 13 year olds) is great experience.

Considering that Malaysia was able to qualify a skater for the Olympics within 10 years of its ISU membership is pretty amazing, imo.

ETA: Singapore's Shuran (Jessica) Yu is 2nd alternate for Pyeongchang after finishing 9th in Nebelhorn.

 

[Marco]

I am so thrilled for Julian! He skated great!

 

[DimaToe]

So one of my biggest hopes for the Olympic season was that Julian qualify for PyeongChang, I’m gonna char and change my biggest hope to him qualifying for the LP and NBC better give him the Cheltzie Lee in 2010 treatment.

 

[Vagabond]

Zahra Lari (UAE) isn't Southeast Asian, but she is Obskur (Southwest) Asian, so I think I can post this here:

She Finished Last on the Ice, but Moved Forward

I find it interesting that she received a costume deduction when she first started competing internationally but doesn't any more. I wonder what would happen if a skater (most likely an ice dancer, I suppose) used a head covering that wasn't a hijab.

 

[Sylvia]

Bumping up to re-post @LongTimeLurker's link here (as a follow-up on the 2 Cambodian male skaters and British coach mentioned in the SEA Games article in post #77 above):

Love their dedication and enthusiasm!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42007557

Excerpt:

Yet for [Clair] Ben Zina, who moved to Phnom Penh in March, it marks the beginning of her ambitious efforts to get Cambodian ice skaters Olympic-ready.
The coach has a 10-year plan that would see Cambodian speed skaters compete in Beijing in 2022 and figure skaters take to the Olympic ice in 2026.
"The talent that I'm seeing at a young level is just as good as in any other country. Now it's about me sticking around long enough to really develop and nurture that talent," she says.

 

[Sylvia]

Belated thanks, @Vagabond, for posting Jere Longman's article about Zahra Lari fom when he attended Nebelhorn Trophy (I missed seeing it).

CNN published a story on her a few days ago: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/28/middleeast/zahra-lari-figure-skater/index.html

This year has been a landmark period for Lari.
In September, she competed in the qualifying games for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will take place in South Korea, although did not qualify.
"My goals go beyond being the first person to represent the UAE at a Winter Olympics," she says. "I want to compete at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the World Championships. These competitions are my current goal."

The current 4CC minimums are 20 & 36 - her TES highs at this point are:

Zahra LARI UAE Golden Bear 2017 25.10.2017 14.45 (SP)
Asian Winter Games 2017 25.02.2017 25.09 (FS)

 

[VGThuy]

I don't know if this was posted already, but I came across this two year old long video with Chloe Ing teaching a reporter from Super Sports Arena, a Singapore cable news channel, the basics of skating for a Singapore audience who may not be familiar with the sport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTnwn8f3Q-M

I really enjoyed seeing Chloe just being natural and enjoying herself while teaching a new audience about skating. She's a really good teacher and naturally charismatic in front of the camera.

 

[Seerek]

An Australian news feature from earlier this month:

Indonesian figure skaters dream of competing in the Winter Olympics

The ice rink in the mall south-west of Jakarta is not quite Olympic size, and the professionals have to share it with the public, making the back to back jump, the flip and lutz difficult to finesse.

ETA: The rink referred to in the article, the same rink that hosts Nationals every spring:

https://www.bxrink.com

 

[tylersf]

I hear skating is super-popular in the Philippines. 20 years ago, someone told me we'd have a Filipino skating contender very soon. I'm still waiting. For now, we have Elizabeth Punsalan (US-born Filipina) who won 5 US dance titles, 5 trips to the Worlds (best 6th place finish) and 2 Olympic teams.

 

[Seerek]

Southeast Asia is doing just fine.
In men's singles, there is 1 who qualified for Pyeongchang (Malaysia) and another that is 1st alternate (Philippines).
In women's singles, there is a 2nd alternate (Singapore).

I'm sure we'll have more breakthroughs en route to Beijing.

 

[sammyf]

Philippines nationals results are here.

Cirinia Gillett/Zachary Freedman are a new pairs team skating for the Philippines. You can watch a video here. They are entered for Bavarian Open as well, good luck to the new team.