Team Cyprus

[CaroLiza_fan]

Páfos Net have today published another article about Giorgia. The Cyprus Olympic Committee held their annual Youth Awards ceremony last night (for the announcement, see this article on the Committee's website), and Giorgia won the award for best figure skater.



Here is the story (in Greek):

http://pafosnet.com/giorgia-sechi-i...-vraveia-tis-koe-gia-tous-kaluterous-athlites

There are a couple of really lovely photos of her and Petra included in the story.

And now that Páfos Net have mentioned it at the end of their story, I can reveal that Giorgia and Laura will be competing at the Cup Of Tyrol at the end of this month. Since Daniella is currently on a sabbatical, and since he has so many commitments with the ISU, Pavel Chernoushov is no longer coaching in Cyprus. So, Laura has moved to working with Petra.

Before that, we will see Angelina and Ilia in action in Advanced Novice Ice Dance next week at the Bavarian Open. And again at the Ice Mall Cup in Israel in 3 weeks time.

In terms of the Singles skaters, it is a smaller contingent of largely younger skaters going to the Ice Mall Cup this year. There will be 5 girls going, of which Christiana Afxentiou in Advanced Novice is the only one in the ISU part of the event (the others, including Christiana's sister, are in the Interclub part).

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Today is 10[SUP]th[/SUP] March.

For fans of martial arts films, it is Chuck Norris’ birthday.
For fans of American Idol, it is Carrie Underwood’s birthday.
For fans of Ice Dance, it is Sergey Mozgov’s birthday.

But for us fans of Cypriot figure skating, today is the day that Laura Farran becomes a teenager!!!

HAPPY 13[SUP]TH[/SUP] BIRTHDAY LAURA!!!



I hope you are having an enjoyable day, and that the next year is a good one for you, both on and off the ice!

And if her results from a couple of weeks ago are anything to go by, it WILL be a good year on the ice! :agree:

[To be continued in a separate post, due to the limit in the number of emoticons per post…]

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

[…continued from previous post]

At the end of February, Laura Farran was part of a 3-strong delegation from FSC Glace that competed at the Cup Of Tyrol in Innsbruck.

Laura finished 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] out of 29 in the Basic Novice Girls competition, with a score of 21.49.

Results: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/4.2018_19/171/SEG005.HTM
Protocols: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130...19/171/ICOTI19_BasicNoviceGirls_FS_Scores.pdf
Video (whole day): https://livestream.com/sportevents/events/7993040/videos/188031607 (Laura starts at 4h 22m 34s)

I know she will be annoyed that she had 2 falls, but when you look past them, that was a great skate from Laura!!!

It has been a couple of years since I last saw Laura in competition (2017 Nationals), and she has progressed so much in that time.

We actually had FSC Glace skaters topping and tailing Group 3. Laura was the last of the 8 skaters in the group to skate, but the first was a skater I hadn’t actually seen before, Vanessa Toderenko Papas.

Video (whole day): https://livestream.com/sportevents/events/7993040/videos/188031607 (Group 3 Warm-Up starts at 3h 40m 06s)

If you look carefully at the end of the warm-up, Laura is at the far end of the rink to the camera and carries on the move she is doing after the skaters are told to leave the ice, and then exits at a different opening to the others. And she did all so that she could wish Vanessa good luck as she was coming off the ice!

Vanessa finished 29[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 29 in the Basic Novice Girls competition, with a score of 12.07.

Results: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/4.2018_19/171/SEG005.HTM
Protocols: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130...19/171/ICOTI19_BasicNoviceGirls_FS_Scores.pdf
Video (whole day): https://livestream.com/sportevents/events/7993040/videos/188031607 (Vanessa starts at 3h 46m 34s)

As I said, I am not familiar with Vanessa, so I hope we get to see more of her over the coming years.

The following day, Giorgia Isabella Sechi was in action in the Junior Ladies SP.

Giorgia finished 20[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 20 in the Junior Ladies SP, with a score of 14.27.

Results: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/4.2018_19/170/SEG015.HTM
Protocols: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130...2018_19/170/COTI19_JuniorLadies_SP_Scores.pdf
Video (whole day): https://livestream.com/sportevents/events/7993040/videos/188086127 (Group 2 Warm-Up starts at 8h 23m 58s; Giorgia starts at 8h 44m 24s)

Here is what was written in the Competition Thread:

Awww. Petra's brought her son along! Love the way he was already sitting on the sofa waiting for Giorgia and his Mum!

Feel so sorry for Giorgia. The programme actually started off really well, and you could see things had improved a lot from the last time we saw it. But then she lost her confidence after the fall. Like, not long afterwards, she was setting up a jump, and she bailed out of it. Her heart just wasn't in it towards the end, to the extent that she finished a bit early and had to wait for the music to finish.

I just wanted to go and give her a big hug!

Then I think of Czech Skate, where she was disappointed with her SP (it was her JGP debut, and you could see she was nervous before she even started). But then she did a lot better in the FS. So, hopefully the same will happen here.

You can be sure I'll be cheering you on, Gio!

CaroLiza_fan

She has a really good program for the free skate too. Fingers crossed for her! And I won't be able to sit up to 3:30am and watch Laurine skate, so I'll just say chookas to her now too and check back in the morning for the scores (hoping for good news...)

Thanks, Harriet. I really enjoyed her FS when she performed it at Czech Skate, so I'm looking forward to seeing it again here.

Unfortunately, I am going to be away for most of today, so will not be watching the skating LIVE. I'm heartbroken that I'll miss Giorgia, but I should be home before the 4 hour catch-up limit reaches her FS.

Hey, at least with being the first to go in the FS, she won't be waiting around all day for her turn.

["cheer" emoticon removed from quote] ALL THE BEST, GIORGIA!!! ["cheer" emoticon removed from quote]

CaroLiza_fan

And she did go on to do better in the FS the next day!

Giorgia finished 20[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 20 in the Junior Ladies FS, with a score of 28.33.

Results: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/4.2018_19/170/SEG016.HTM
Protocols: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130...2018_19/170/COTI19_JuniorLadies_FS_Scores.pdf
Video (whole day): https://livestream.com/sportevents/events/7993040/videos/188138962 (Group 1 Warm-Up starts at 1h 52m 38s; Giorgia starts at 1h 59m 00s)

Here is what was written in the Competition Thread:

Right, as soon as I arrived home, I wound back to watch Giorgia. And then I wrote this LONG message.

When she fell twice not long into the programme, I was worried that it was going to turn out like yesterday and it was going to dent her confidence. But, thankfully it didn't. I think the difference today is that in both cases she was so close to staying upright. The second fall was a bit of a weird one. She managed the first part of the combo no problem, but just after she finished the second part, one foot hit the other and that was what actually sent her down, rather than the element itself.

She managed alright through the rest of the programme. There was one moment where she hesitated as she thought she was too close to the boards (the irony to this, of course, is that she trains on a rink that is less than a quarter of the size of what she was on today!). But, she needn't have worried, there was just enough space.

Giorgia didn't seem as annoyed after the routine as she did yesterday, and I can understand why. Even with the 2 falls, on the whole it went a lot better than the SP.

On each occasion I've seen Giorgia competing this season, the FS has always gone better than the SP. It could just be nerves at the start of a competition, but there does seem to be something about the FS that works better for her.

So, if her and Petra can work out what it is about the FS that agrees with her, and do something similar for the SP next season, it could be a very fruitful exercise. :agree:

CaroLiza_fan

Well done to all three girls that went to Innsbruck, and all the best to them and the other Cypriot skaters at Nationals!



CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Statement on the CSF website:

"Due to the unforeseen circumstances, Cyprus National Skating Championships that was to be held on the 6th – 7th of April 2019 are cancelled.

More information for this event will be published in the near future.

Yours sincerely,

OC"

Source: http://www.csf.org.cy/​

I have no idea what is going on. But, I hope that they will get rescheduled.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

No news yet on what is happening with Nationals, but Saskia Constantinou will be interviewing Daniella on her CYBC radio show, "Saskia Unreserved", tomorrow (Monday 8[SUP]th[/SUP] April) at 12:30 EEST (10:30 BST; 11:30 CEST). So, 13h 30m from now.

Here are the places where you can listen to it.

CYBC4 Classic:
FM Radio on the island

Transmitter	FM Frequency
Mount Olympos	88.2 MHz
Paphos	90.2 MHz
Vavatsinia	90.2 MHz
Armenochori	90.5 MHz
Dhrousha	94.2 MHz
Paralimni	100.9 MHz

CYBC Website:
http://cybc.com.cy/live-radio/πρωτο/
(and then click on the "RIK4 Classic" button)

Saskia Constantinou's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/SaskiaUnreserved/

Saskia Constantinou's Website:
https://saskiaconstantinou.com/saskia-unreserved/

Although I don’t understand Greek, I’ll be listening in!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

No news yet on what is happening with Nationals, but Saskia Constantinou will be interviewing Daniella on her CYBC radio show, "Saskia Unreserved", tomorrow (Monday 8[SUP]th[/SUP] April) at 12:30 EEST (10:30 BST; 11:30 CEST). So, 13h 30m from now.

Here are the places where you can listen to it.

CYBC4 Classic:
FM Radio on the island

Transmitter	FM Frequency
Mount Olympos	88.2 MHz
Paphos	90.2 MHz
Vavatsinia	90.2 MHz
Armenochori	90.5 MHz
Dhrousha	94.2 MHz
Paralimni	100.9 MHz

CYBC Website:
http://cybc.com.cy/live-radio/πρωτο/
(and then click on the "RIK4 Classic" button)

Saskia Constantinou's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/SaskiaUnreserved/

Saskia Constantinou's Website:
https://saskiaconstantinou.com/saskia-unreserved/

Although I don’t understand Greek, I’ll be listening in!

CaroLiza_fan

On air now.

And it is being conducted in English!!!

Watch it on Facebook - you can see them in the studio!

EDIT: Here is the link to the archived video of the interview on Saskia's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/SaskiaUnreserved/videos/276516973238189/​

CaroLiza_fan

 

[La Rhumba]

Thank you for the link! I watched on Facebook, and it was a really interesting interview, in perfect English from both. I thought the interviewer, although obviously not a Skating fan, had done some research, and asked great questions. The part about changing her coach because he was sweary and only allowed her to eat 1 apple in 2 days was eye opening! And great that the interviewer said "that's a starvation diet, good that you changed coach". It's such a shame there is no Zamboni in Cyprus, and she has to train in such poor conditions with snow on the ice, but all the best to Daniella for the future. :agree:

 

[La Rhumba]

I went back and watched the interview again from the beginning, and posted the link on Twitter (where incidentally there is a Saskia Constantinou, but a different one in London). Good job I checked before tagging her!

It's such a pleasure to hear an interview with a teenager speaking so eloquently in what is not even her native language. Amazing! In marked contrast to some of our teenage skaters who sadly are nowhere near as eloquent in their mother tongue, and every second word is "Like".

I hope Daniella is successful in her A Levels and goes on to achieve her ambition of studying in America where she can resume her Skating career with hopefully better facilities and coaching. :agree:

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

OK, so a couple of important updates.

Firstly, today is the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday of the reigning Senior Ladies Champion, Polina Ustinova!!!

С ДНЕМ РОЖДЕНИЯ ПОЛИНА!!!



I hope you are having an enjoyable day, and that the next year is a good one for you, both on and off the ice!

I also hope that your twenties will be even better for you than your teenage years were!

---

Secondly, we have had an update on this year’s Nationals.

Here what the statement on the CSF website says:

"Cyprus Skating Federation, after the Council Decision on the 03/04/2019, announces that Cyprus National Skating Championships will be held on the 18th – 19th of May 2019.

More information you can find in the announcement (link below) or contact your club representative in the Council.
Cyprus National Championships 2019 – Announcement (filetype: pdf)
Yours sincerely,
OC"

Source: http://www.csf.org.cy/​

Thank goodness for that!

All the best to everybody who is taking part!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And hot on the heels of one birthday, we have another!

Today is the feast day of St. George. Which can only mean one thing - it is also Giorgia Isabella Sechi's birthday!!!

TANTI AUGURI GIORGIA!!!



But it is not just any birthday - it is actually Giorgia's 18[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday. So, since it was a milestone birthday, I decided to do something special to mark it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLf4Dagfitg

There is actually a story behind the choice of singer. I haven’t made many Fan Videos because my video editing skills are very basic. But for those videos that I have made, I have used music that involves somebody from Northern Ireland. This time, I went for a singer from London. Why? Because the singer in question has a Northern Irish Mum and a Cypriot Dad!

And although the song is not her own, I loved the message behind it. It is about being a strong woman, just like Giorgia is.

Everything just seemed to fit perfectly.

All the best to Giorgia for Nationals next month, and also for the coming season.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Firstly, I have to start with an apology. With everything that has been happening this week, I missed a couple of important birthdays.

Danai Hadjimisti’s birthday was on Friday:

HAPPY BELATED 16[SUP]th[/SUP] BIRTHDAY DANAI!!!

And Eliana Kalogirou’s birthday was on Saturday:

HAPPY BELATED 18[SUP]th[/SUP] BIRTHDAY ELIANA!!!



I hope you both had enjoyable days, and that the coming year is a good one for both of you.

---

Sadly, the rumours are true. The Ice Dance partnership between Maria Miliukova and Nikita Vityranyuk has split up.

However, Nikita has already re-appeared with a new partner, Diana LEKHTMAN from Saint Petersburg.

Here is Diana’s fskate.ru Bio

Diana started this season with Fedor Sharonov (with whom she finished 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] in the first stage of the St. Petersburg Cup), and finished this season with Roman Atoyar (with whom she finished 6[SUP]th[/SUP] in the St. Petersburg Championships).

As with Maria and Nikita in last season’s Nationals, Diana and Nikita are entered as guest competitors in Advanced Novice Ice Dance.

As Diana has been competing for Russia this season, she is not currently eligible to compete for Cyprus. Hence why they are competing as guest skaters.

Given that we were expecting Maria and Nikita to move up to Juniors next season, it is surprising that Diana and Nikita are entered in Advanced Novice. But there are a couple of plausible explanations for this. Firstly, Diana’s Bio doesn’t give her exact DOB, so she might still be too young for Juniors. But the more likely explanation is that the timing of the Cypriot Championships means that there was simply not enough time to put together two Junior programmes.

I wonder what is happening with Maria. She is too good to be left on the sidelines.

---

The Cypriot National Championships were held over the weekend. For more see the dedicated thread:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?80783

---

Although she was not competing this year, Daniella was presented with an award at Nationals for everything she has achieved during her career.

She has put up a lovely post about it on both her personal Facebook profile and her Instagram page. Since the privacy settings on the Facebook version (which has more photos) is not set to public, here is the Instagram version:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxpLL56Fcrr/

Fortunately, one of the additional photos that was in the Facebook version has been posted separately on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxpzCmwlukY/

Daniella also put a lovely close-up photo of the trophy and plaque up on her Facebook profile. So, hopefully she will put this photo up somewhere public as well.

As a fan, I really hope that this presentation is not a sign that Daniella’s sabbatical is becoming something more permanent. I would really miss her if it was.

But as a friend, I just want her to live the life she wants and be happy.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just letting you know that all the photos I was talking about did eventually get put together into a public post on the Skate Cyprus club's Facebook Page. They can be viewed in this post:

https://www.facebook.com/skatecyprus.org/posts/2179630792115071

Included at the end of this post is a nice group photo of most of the Junior and Senior skaters, as well as the Ice Dancers, with their trophies, medals and certificates. Here is the direct link:

https://www.facebook.com/skatecyprus.org/photos/a.135549496523221/2179620968782720/?type=3&theater

As we look at them from left to right:

• Ekaterina Luneva (1[SUP]st[/SUP] Junior Ladies)
• Diana Lekhtman and Nikita Vitryanyuk (1[SUP]st[/SUP] Advanced Novice Ice Dance Guests)
• Polina Ustinova (1[SUP]st[/SUP] Senior Ladies)
• Ilia Karankevich and Angelina Kudryavtseva (1[SUP]st[/SUP] Advanced Novice Ice Dance)
• Giorgia Isabella Sechi (3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Junior Ladies)
• Daniella Vanessa Ipsarides (Special Achievement Award)

All the best to them!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Although she was not competing this year, Daniella was presented with an award at Nationals for everything she has achieved during her career.

She has put up a lovely post about it on both her personal Facebook profile and her Instagram page. Since the privacy settings on the Facebook version (which has more photos) is not set to public, here is the Instagram version:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxpLL56Fcrr/

Fortunately, one of the additional photos that was in the Facebook version has been posted separately on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxpzCmwlukY/

Daniella also put a lovely close-up photo of the trophy and plaque up on her Facebook profile. So, hopefully she will put this photo up somewhere public as well.

As a fan, I really hope that this presentation is not a sign that Daniella’s sabbatical is becoming something more permanent. I would really miss her if it was.

But as a friend, I just want her to live the life she wants and be happy.

CaroLiza_fan

Daniella has just made the following announcement:

After 10 years of competitive figure skating until the level of junior ladies and after participating in the top international figure skating competitions like the ISU Junior Grand Prix and the European Youth Olympic Festival it is time for me to pass on my knowledge of this amazing sport to the younger generation. I am ready to teach the skills of figure skating to our future champions immediately. Those who are interested in this beautiful sport can contact me through, Instagram- @daniellaipsarides or through my personal Facebook account- Daniella Ipsarides or even by telephone!!It will be a great pleasure for me to help young beginner athletes to love our sport. Looking forward to see you on the Ice soon!!!!!

Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=445114032885726&id=149071529156646​

Daniella has done so much to put Cyprus on the figure skating map. So, it is so good to hear that she is going to stay in the sport in a coaching capacity, and pass on the knowledge that she has acquired to the next generation.

I'm sure she'll be great at it.

All the best to her.

CaroLiza_fan

P.S. I hope you guys like my new avatar of Daniella and Giorgia. It is such a beautiful photo that as soon as I saw it, I just had to make it into an avatar!

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Barely 2 ½ months after Nationals, and the new season kicks off this week for Team Cyprus.

After a very busy 2018–19 season, it looks like Angelina Kudryavtseva and Ilia Karankevich are going to continue in the same vein this season. The difference is that they have now moved up to Junior level.

This weekend, they will be competing in the NRW Summer Trophy in Dortmund. The Junior Ice Dance SD starts at approximately 17:10 CEST on Saturday 10[SUP]th[/SUP] August, while the Junior Ice Dance FD starts at approximately 10:30 CEST on Sunday 11[SUP]th[/SUP] August.

Then, two weeks later, they will be in Courchevel making their Junior Grand Prix debut. The Ice Dance SD starts at 14:15 CEST on Friday 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] August, while the Ice Dance FD starts at 15:30 CEST on Saturday 24[SUP]th[/SUP] August.

2019 Junior Ladies Bronze Medallist Giorgia Isabella Sechi will also be in Courchevel for her second ever Junior GP. The Ladies SP starts at 14:00 CEST on Thursday 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] August, while the Ladies FS starts at 17:10 CEST on Friday 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] August.

Two weeks after that, Angelina and Ilia will be making their second Junior GP appearance at the Riga Cup. The Ice Dance SD starts at 13:00 CEST on Friday 6[SUP]th[/SUP] September, while the Ice Dance FD starts at 17:20 CEST on Saturday 7[SUP]th[/SUP] September.

Joining them in Riga for what will be her Junior GP debut is the 2019 Junior Ladies Champion, Ekaterina Luneva. The Ladies SP starts at 13:00 CEST on Thursday 5[SUP]th[/SUP] September, while the Ladies FS starts at 16:30 CEST on Friday 6[SUP]th[/SUP] September.

Although I will be posting further updates, I would like to just take this opportunity to wish all the Cypriot skaters all the best in all their upcoming competitions.

ALL THE BEST, GUYS!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Stefania Yakovleva was competing in the Basic Novice competition at the Tallinn Trophy yesterday.

Yakovleva was one of the few Cypriot skaters competing internationally that I hadn't seen before, so I made a point of making sure I watched her last night before the stream got zapped. And it was so surreal.

Stefania was the last skater to start before the interval. When her name was called, she came out and on her way to get to her starting position, she fell. So she got up, and went into her starting position. And then we heard a male voice shouting at her, telling her that she was still wearing her team jacket! So, she had to go over to the side of the ice and take it off, and then get back into position again.

After all this, you would understand if young Stefania was rattled. However, she went on to put in the most amazing performance! Yakovleva was skater #14 to start, and she went into the lead by 2.54 points. And she stayed in the lead until skater #32!

I was so impressed with Yakovleva. There were 38 entries, and she managed to finish 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] out of the 35 skaters that actually started. Like, it is unheard of for a Singles skater from Cyprus to finish on the podium in an international competition which does not have a small number of entries.

The dampener was that having to go back and take off her jacket earned Yakovleva a 1 point deduction for a late start. :disapp: And when you consider that she was only 0.31 behind the winner, Stefania would have easily won the competition if it was not for that silly mistake.

Then I looked at her Rink Results page. Turns out that this was her third competition of the season. Her third competition of this month, in fact. And she won both of her previous competitions!

• 1[SUP]st[/SUP] out of 19 at the Icelab Cup on 1[SUP]st[/SUP] November
• 1[SUP]st[/SUP] out of 18 at the Volvo Open Cup on 5[SUP]th[/SUP] November

More significantly, at these previous competitions, she was competing at a higher level, Intermediate Novice.

This is a very promising skater. And I am really looking forward to when she becomes Junior eligible. We have seen Kudriavtseva / Karankevich really put Cyprus on the map in Ice Dance the past couple of seasons. And it looks like Yakovleva could do the same in Singles skating.

With hindsight, I wish I had been able to watch the Basic Novice competition in full. It was so close - only 1.1 points covered the top 7 skaters. :shocked: But, alas, I didn't have time, and the archived stream has now been removed after receiving a copyright claim.

But, what a way to finish my viewing of the Tallinn Trophy. Seeing a Singles skater from Cyprus put in a medal-winning performance.

CONGRATULATIONS STEFANIA!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just wanted to take this opportunity wish a happy birthday to Daniella Vanessa Ipsarides.

ΧΡΌΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΆ ΝΤΑΝΙΈΛΑ!!!



But it is not just any birthday - it is actually Daniella's 18[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday. So, since it was a milestone birthday, I decided to make a Fan Video to mark it:

https://www.facebook.com/gordon.kells/videos/10162479670230538/

Unfortunately, copyright claims against the music mean that the whole video got blocked when I uploaded it to YouTube, and the music got muted when I uploaded it to Facebook.

So, the best I can come up with is to suggest that you watch the video on the Facebook link above while listening to the music on this video (I don’t know why this and a handful of videos are allowed and mine wasn’t):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLHq8V1V-aw

The story as to how I chose this song is very interesting. All the videos I make use music that involves somebody from Northern Ireland. But, although it is by the most famous singer from Northern Ireland, I didn’t actually know this particular song. Then, about 6 months ago, a friend of mine posted a comment on Twitter saying that she had recently heard this song for the first time in many years, and would love to see somebody skating to it. And since this woman is originally from Cyprus and has taken a bit of a shine to Daniella, I thought it would be appropriate to use it for this video.

All the best to Daniella with whatever the future holds.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

As well as Daniella's birthday, there has been some other news from the Cypriot team in the past week.

The first news was confirmation that Angelina Kudriavtseva and Ilia Karankevich will be competing at Junior Worlds. This will be the first time that Cyprus has been represented at an ISU Major Championship. (The only other time Cyprus was represented at a figure skating Major was when Daniella competed at the 2017 EYOF. But that was a European Olympic Committee event rather than an ISU event).

---

In Ladies singles, a couple of the reigning Cypriot Champions were in action this week.

Sofia Trophy: 12–18 February 2020

Christiana Afxentiou (2019 Cypriot Advanced Novice Ladies Champion) made what I think is her Junior level debut at the Sofia Trophy in Bulgaria. She finished 26[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, having been 27[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 27 in the SP, and 26[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 26 in the FS.

Sofia Trophy Junior Ladies SP: Results; Protocols
Sofia Trophy Junior Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Sofia Trophy Junior Ladies: Results


Tallink Hotels Cup: 13–16 February 2020

Meanwhile, over in Estonia, Ekaterina Luneva (2019 Cypriot Junior Ladies Champion) showed that she is the favourite to retain her National title with a very good showing at the Tallink Hotels Cup. She finished 7[SUP]th[/SUP] overall out of 19, having been 5[SUP]th[/SUP] in the SP, and 8[SUP]th[/SUP] in the FS.

Tallink Hotels Cup Junior Ladies SP: Results; Protocols
Tallink Hotels Cup Junior Ladies FS: Results; Protocols
Tallink Hotels Cup Junior Ladies: Results

Incidentally, Katia achieved the SP minimum TES for Junior Worlds at the Tallink Hotels Cup. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the FS minimum TES. Plus it happened a week after the deadline, so it wouldn’t have counted anyway.

But, it just shows that if she had entered some more competitions since her Junior GP (she only did the GP Of Bratislava in December), she could very well have been going to Tallinn in March to join her Leader team-mates Angelina and Ilia at Junior Worlds.

---

Finally, Nationals will be held 02–03 May 2020. This was actually announced a month ago, but I didn’t visit the CSF website until today.

Incidentally, the CSF website has been given a makeover, and is now completely in Greek. So, it looks like I will be relying on Google Translate from now on.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just wanted to take this opportunity wish a Happy 21[SUP]st[/SUP] Birthday to Polina Ustinova.

С ДНЕМ РОЖДЕНИЯ, ПОЛИНА!!!



Since it was a milestone birthday, I decided to make a Fan Video to mark it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM6LWmZo-vE

As I have explained before, all the videos I make use music that involves somebody from Northern Ireland. But, this time I actually chose somebody very local to me – Tony is from a town which is only 10 miles from my hometown. HOWEVER, he has been performing in Russia for around 25 years, and is actually now based in Moscow. So, I thought it would be an appropriate choice.

The lyrics may seem a bit odd at first, but I wanted to use a song where he sings in Russian.

Anyway, even though Cyprus is currently in lockdown, I hope Polina has an enjoyable day, and that the next year is a good one for her, both on and off the ice!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just wanted to take this opportunity wish a Happy 17[SUP]th[/SUP] Birthday to Danai Hadjimisti.

ΧΡΌΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΆ ΔΑΝΆΗ!!!



I hope you are having an enjoyable day, and that the coming year is a good one for you.

---

As you know from the post directly above this one, it was Polina's birthday last month. Here is a video she posted on TikTok thanking everybody that sent greetings:

https://www.tiktok.com/@polinaust/video/6817561542007983365

She has been posting there regularly over the past few months. Most of her videos are of her miming to snippets of songs or recordings. But about a week after her birthday, she posted this video about her skating career:

https://www.tiktok.com/@polinaust/video/6821188636348910853

I do hope that we will see her competing again sometime in the future.

---

Nationals were supposed to be held 2 weeks ago but, obviously, they didn't happen because Cyprus was in a strict lockdown at the time. The process of lifting the restrictions started the day after Nationals were due to finish, and the country is about to enter Phase 2.

Unfortunately, there have been no posts on the CSF website since January (before all this kicked off). So, I don't know whether Nationals were cancelled outright, or just postponed.

I'll let you know if and when I find out anything.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

And now for the second half of our birthday double header!

I would like to wish a Happy 19[SUP]th[/SUP] Birthday to Eliana Kalogirou.

ΧΡΌΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΆ ΗΛΙΆΝΑ!!!



I hope you are having an enjoyable day, and that the coming year is a good one for you.

---

Now for an update on Kristina Dubrovskaya.

The past year has been very busy for Kristina. Well, one particular week last July was anyway.

You know how I told you that she was studying at the University Of Surrey in England. Well, she graduated on Wednesday 17[SUP]th[/SUP]:

Graduation photo

But the big news actually happened the day before her graduation, on Tuesday 16[SUP]th[/SUP]:

SHE GOT MARRIED!!! :shocked:

Wedding album 1
Wedding album 2
Photo of the dance
Wedding video

Her husband is also Russian, and is the co-founder of a technology company. With this in mind, it does seem strange that they got married in England. But they're both based in the British Isles, so it does actually make sense.

They went on their honeymoon on the Thursday 18[SUP]th[/SUP], and then it was Kristina's 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] birthday on Sunday 21[SUP]st[/SUP].

Honeymoon album 1
Honeymoon album 2
Wedding photoshoot in Bali album

I hope she got a chance to rest after all that!

Congratulations!!!

---

Kristina and Konstantin are currently living in London, and a month ago she uploaded a video of them going around the city showing us what London is like during lockdown. And boys but it was surreal to see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzWhJ_p42nM

Just be warned, it is 17 minutes long. And they are speaking in Russian throughout. But it is definitely worth watching.

She also uploaded a video 10 days ago to mark the 75[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of Victory Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay_v5_0eVVU

Kristina is sitting in an office chair for all 8m 36s of the video. It starts with her talking at length to camera. I admit, because I don't understand Russian, I started winding through it after about 20 seconds. But, it is a good job I didn't just leave the video because, at 1m 9s, she starts singing. And after this song finishes (at 5m 33s), she starts singing another!

You can really sense the feeling in her voice.

Thank you for doing this, Kristina!

CaroLiza_fan