I'm not sure if this article will be of very much interest, but it made me QUITE excited because our local newspaper barely ever has anything about skating in it tehe. Anyways here is the article:
Halifax Chronicle Herald
"PLUSHENKO TO MAKE RETURN FROM INJURY"
St. Petersburg, Russia
Three-time worl champion Evgeni Plushenko returns to competition at this week's Grand Prix Cup of Russia after missing eight months because of injury.
Plushenko withdrew from the world championship in March because of a groin injury that required surgery.
The extent of the Russian skater's recovery will be tested at the tournament, which begins today, with a field including defending champion Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland and U.S. champion Johnny Weir.
Weir sprained an ankle at Skate Canada in October, but has been cleared for the competition.
Alongside Lambiel, all of the skating's current world champions are to take the ice in St. Petersburg.
Canada is represented by Shawn Sawyer of Edmundston, N.B., in men's singles, Elizabeth Putnam of North Vancouver, B.C., and Sean Wirtz, of Marathon, Ont., in pairs, and dance team Siobhan Karam and Joshua McGrath of Ottawa.
The strongest challengers to two-time women's world champion Irina Slutskaya are likely to be Miki Ando of Japan, in her first Grand Prix appearance of the year, Yoshie Onda of Japan, and Finland's Susanna Poykio.
Russia appears strong in pairs skating, with world champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and European silver medalists Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov.
China usually presents the strongest challenges to Russia in the pairs. However, the only Chinese entry, Ding Yang and Ren Zhongfrei, pulled out.
World champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia lead the ice-dancing field, with strong competition likely to come from Israel's Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski and the U.S. team of Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov.
