Indian Pairs Skaters Made Historical Debut

Indian skaters made an unexpected JPG debut in Taipei. Instead of ridiculing them, all of us should cheer for these Indians. Remember Bin Yao skated as bad as these indians 20 years ago!!!

Here's a youtube clip to record this historical moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSV0Ei8GlsU

Wonderful debut. I give them full credit for trying and especially Pairs. I hope they continue and improve each year and most of all, encourage the Sport in India.

Joe

I saw them on the webcast. Joe, the girl could barely stand up on her skates. She had to hold on to her partner, who towed her about the rink, never letting go of her hand. HE could skate some, but she could not skate at all and they simply did not belong on competitive ice.

I also saw the Indian lady Borkar skate the Ladies SP on the webcast. She couldn't do any more than a single axel, a single toe loop and a few waltz 'jumps', but at least she could do some basic spins and was able to navigate smoothly on the ice. However, I do have to say she hasn't improved much since her last try in the JGP. That doesn't bode well for the Pairs team, and I would hate to see them come back again and do as poorly in the future.

hmm I just have a question

Why and Who let them go to a JGP competition???

I don´t want to be mean but they shouldn´t skate there...I recognize the effort and I´m glad that skating started to grow in India but come on..what´s the point of embarrassed yourself.

N@d&A said:

hmm I just have a question

Why and Who let them go to a JGP competition???

I don´t want to be mean but they shouldn´t skate there...I recognize the effort and I´m glad that skating started to grow in India but come on..what´s the point of embarrassed yourself.

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I have to agree. This is the figure skating equivalent of those swimmers you see at the Summer Olympics who come from countries that have no swimming pools and take 20 minutes to do the 100m freestyle, assuming someone doesn't have to dive in there and stop them from drowning. I mean, 4.30 points? For BOTH programs combined?? That's like the amount one fairly mediocre pair can get for ONE element, for heaven's sake. No, not everyone can be Gordeeva & Grinkov, and yes, SOMEONE has to come in last, but come on here.

This kind of thing stands out even more when you realize that every Olympic year, there seems to be a couple of federations that, despite being eligible for an Olympic slot, elect to leave skaters home because they don't come "up to snuff". (Denmark electing not to send the very talented Mikkeline Kierkgaard to Salt Lake City comes to mind). I understand the mentality, especially in figure skating's "development nations" to want to get people out there and gain experience, but going out there and getting a single-digit score for 2 programs is not exactly a good mental boost, especially for skaters that young. I'm all for these "developing nations" competing and all, but IMO there should be certain standards. I'm sure there are other pairs out there who have been deemed "not ready yet" by their federations who are MUCH better than this and if they saw this, they've got to be pretty dang mad.

And I must disagree that Bin Yao (with Bo Luan) skated THAT badly. I remember seeing them at the 84 Olys, and yes, they were MILES behind the other pairs there, but at least, in a primitive way, they were more or less on the same freeway........

I have to chime in to say that i agree with the people who said that the pair from india really should not have been at the JGP competition.

I believe they train on quad roller skates and they just did not look comfortable on the ice. The British Adult nationals pairs competition looked better than these guys managed which considering the usual standard on the JGP, just isn't enough. They could barely pull of cross overs let alone the required SBS jumps, spins lifts and throws.

Everyone has to start somewhere, but couldn't the federation have held off a year or two before sending them? They didn't even land clean SBS flips...surely its in their interest to build a program at home and only show it to the world when its audience ready?

Ant

I feel so sorry for them. Don't you see their faces? They know it's not ok. But who asks them for an opinion? I hope they will feel fine after this. Hope that mentaly this will not be a big crush for them.

Anything_for_skating makes a good point. I hope that the new Indian Skating Federation is not being so insistent in asserting their rights to compete that they toss aside the feelings of their athletes.

On the other hand, the skaters got to visit Taiwan and hang out with the skating crowd, so maybe they were happy to go for the experience even if they are still beginners on the ice.

Well I remember tales of the first Chinese pairs team, hopefully in the future othr teams will will be inspired to try.

I wonder if it would have been better to send the skaters to the event... as spectators. Let them see what these other skaters are doing. Or send them to a training camp for a few weeks? To someplace that actually has ICE? I applaud these kids for getting out there and finishing their programs, and I understand that it is Indian federation's decision to send their skaters out there, but I don't see how being THAT embarrassed can be beneficial. Everyone needs to somewhere, but really, going to a junior international skating event when you can't even do a back crossover? I wish they could maybe get sponsors or something to get them to a place where they can consistantly train on the ice with coaches who really know what they're doing.

I think one of the reasons this pair might have attracted such dubious attention is due to CoP. Under the old system, they simply would have been listed as 10th in short, 10th in long, with 15.0 total points, and only those who are "really into statistics" might have discovered the low marks. But under CoP, with total numbers posted, that 4.30 sticks out like it was posted in neon, especially with the 9th-place Yangs pulling in a pretty respectable 96.53. I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw that number and thought OMG this I've GOTTA see; so much for there being no such thing as bad publicity...... Tho I suppose the silver lining would be, well, they're in the record books..... Along with the guy from Hong Kong at the 85 Worlds who got 0.1s for his compolsury figures......

JonnyCoop said:

I think one of the reasons this pair might have attracted such dubious attention is due to CoP. Under the old system, they simply would have been listed as 10th in short, 10th in long, with 15.0 total points, and only those who are "really into statistics" might have discovered the low marks. But under CoP, with total numbers posted, that 4.30 sticks out like it was posted in neon, especially with the 9th-place Yangs pulling in a pretty respectable 96.53. I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw that number and thought OMG this I've GOTTA see; so much for there being no such thing as bad publicity...... Tho I suppose the silver lining would be, well, they're in the record books..... Along with the guy from Hong Kong at the 85 Worlds who got 0.1s for his compolsury figures......

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Acutally and even better ending would be that over then next couple of seasons they buildup their elements and by the time they leave the junior ranks they've turned that 4.30 into a score in the high 90s or over 100...that would feel pretty sweet - another record book category for improvement....you can imagien the commentary already!

I do agree though under 6.0 i wouldn't ahve eben any the wiser to their skate but like you say, sice COP puts up the totals then my interest was piqued and i had to see how they skated. For once i felt like my coach observing their very straight legs and not enough knee bend!!! I bet that both of the them were still bending their knees more than me!!!

Ant

Call me crazy but I think its good that they came. Maybe the score is a little demotivating but at least they got credit for some elements.
At least they got a chance to skate on ice which they probably won't find in india and maybe the other pairs showed them some stuff.

Didn't one of the girls from India mention last year that during practice for her JGP the other skaters showed her some elements and that she learned a lot.

JonnyCoop said:

And I must disagree that Bin Yao (with Bo Luan) skated THAT badly. I remember seeing them at the 84 Olys, and yes, they were MILES behind the other pairs there, but at least, in a primitive way, they were more or less on the same freeway........

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I agree. I thought they attacked a number of their elements and showed the right timing, even if they didn't land everything. It's hard to judge speed from film, but they gave the impression of moving into their elements far less tentatively than a number of teams I've seen at the bottom of the standings in Worlds in the last few years. (Although a few of those teams have made great strides from one year to the next.)

Mathman said:

Anything_for_skating makes a good point. I hope that the new Indian Skating Federation is not being so insistent in asserting their rights to compete that they toss aside the feelings of their athletes.

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You know, there WAS a time in the ISU when they wouldn't even admit a federation unless they could skate up to a certain standard. (Jozef Dedic, then president of the ISU, admitted that Hong Kong was admitted more than a little prematurely in 1984). I'm sure that went out the window a long time ago with $peedy in charge; I've heard charges that he's been admitting some developing countries (from a skating perspective) just to get more votes for his proposals (read: tangents) and I certainly wouldn't put it past him.

That being said, Ami Perekh's 17th in Norway was quite respectable. So I certainly wouldn't consider the Indian federation to be a TOTAL joke at this point, but they should be a little more discerning at this point as to who they send to the JGP. And I think there should be more STANDARDIZATION of skills at international competition levels; obviously India's criteria for what constitutes a junior-level program is a far cry from what, say, Canada, considers a junior-level program.