NAGOYA, Japan (AFP) - Defending champions Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov got off to an immaculate start in their bid for a third pairs title, leading the short programme at the NHK Trophy figure skating.
In the ice dancing event, world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, also of Russia, underlined their credentials by winning the compulsory section.
Petrova and Tikhonov, the 2000 world champions, started their programme with a perfect triple toe-loop, scoring 37.20 points for technical elements and 29.24 for programme components for a 66.44 total.
World bronze medallists Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China were second with a total of 64.82. The 1999 world bronze medallists Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland finished third after Zagorska touched the ice on a throw triple-loop.
"It was a bit hard because we couldn't sleep well last night due to jet lag, but it was very good skating and I'm satisfied with our technique and our performance," said Tikhonov.
"It's the first day of the competition and we are happy with what we did today. We will fight till the end to win the gold medal here because the NHK is our favourite competition," said Tikhonov.
Navka and Kostomarov collected 17.60 points for technical elements and 23.87 points for programme components for a total of 41.47. This kept them ahead of world silver medallists Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria in the first event of the ice-dance competition.
Denkova and Staviski, runners-up to the Russians at the world and European championships but the winners at Skate Canada last weekend, earned 16.70 and 23.10 points for a total of 39.80.
France's Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder were third with 16.62 and 21.88 points for 38.50, followed by Americans Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov with 34.69 points.
Germany's Christina and William Beier were forced to withdraw as their costumes failed to arrive.
The NHK Trophy is the third leg of the six-round qualifying series for the International Skating Union's Grand Prix final in Beijing next month.
11/04/2004 - 13:40 GMT - AFP