The 2019 Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, the eighth of the 10-event Challenger Series, takes place Oct. 30-Nov. 3, in the city of Dongguan, China, which will host the competition for the second time since 2011. Originally assigned to Hong Kong, this event was moved to mainland China at the end of May 2019.
Three disciplines will be contested: men, ladies and ice dance. This event takes place the same weekend as the Grand Prix, Internationaux de France.
The men′s event is a mix of veterans on the senior circuit and a handful of rising junior stars. Alexei Bychenko of Israel is the most seasoned skater in the field. He will go up against the junior stars Daniel Grassl of Italy, Andrew Torgashev of the U.S., and Korea′s Sihyeong Lee. We won′t be surprised if the junior stars capture the podium at this event, given the level of skating in the junior ranks this season.
In ladies, South Korea′s Eunsoo Lim and Hanul Kim headline the field with Australia′s Kailani Craine and Yi Christy Leung of Hong Kong both chasing a podium finish. This event will serve as a warm-up for Craine and Leung who are headed to Cup of China next week.
Georgia′s junior ice dance team of Maria Kazakova and George Reviya, who are headed to the Junior Grand Prix Final in December, will face off against Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the U.S.Carreira and Ponomarenko, the most experienced team in the field, should have no problem winning this competition. Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto of Japan will open their season at this competition.
The event will be available online to those who live in China, but we are told there will be no live stream coverage outside of that country.
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