The Japanese Federation has announced that Mao Asada will skate in the Senior GP this coming fall, even though she is not eligible for Senior ISU championship events. She is #20 on the ISU Ranking list, which will guarantee her at least one assignment.
The ISU ranking list has been revised recently, and it is an eye opener:
1. Arakawa
2. Ando
3. Suguri
4. Slutskaya
5. Onda
6. Sebestyen
7. Cohen
8. Kostner
9. Poykio
10. Rochette
11. Liashenko
12. Meissner
13. Corwin
14. Sokolova
15. Phaneuf
16. Kwan
17. Maniachenko
18. Sawada
19. Dytrt
20. (Mao) Asada
Amazing. Four of the top 5 are Japanese even though none of them made the World podium, and Onda didn't even make it to Worlds.
The ISU ranking list has been revised recently, and it is an eye opener:
1. Arakawa
2. Ando
3. Suguri
4. Slutskaya
5. Onda
6. Sebestyen
7. Cohen
8. Kostner
9. Poykio
10. Rochette
11. Liashenko
12. Meissner
13. Corwin
14. Sokolova
15. Phaneuf
16. Kwan
17. Maniachenko
18. Sawada
19. Dytrt
20. (Mao) Asada
Amazing. Four of the top 5 are Japanese even though none of them made the World podium, and Onda didn't even make it to Worlds.