SZ wins 2 figure skating golds at provincial games

The first two figure skating gold medals of the 16th Guangdong Provincial Games went to Yang Qingxin and Zhou Suola from Shenzhen on Tuesday, as they came out on top in the women’s and men’s singles competitions.

For the first time in the history of the provincial games, athletes are skating their way on the ice to the podium. All figure skating matches are being held at the Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Ice Sports Stadium in Longgang District from Tuesday to today.

Yang and Zhou are among the tens of young skaters in Group D, which consists of participants born between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2014.

                                                                                      Yang Qingxin

Yang, 8, stood out of 17 female contestants from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Zhanjiang, and won the women’s singles race.

In the men’s individual program, Zhou, who was born in 2012, took the crown after defeating other skaters from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Zhanjiang.

                                                                           Zhou Suola

Pan Gaofeng, the coach of Shenzhen’s figure skating team, told Shenzhen Daily that Zhou started training under him in 2018. The young athlete has passed the national figure skating tests for Level 4 step sequence and Level 4 free skating and is preparing for the Level 5 tests.

Pan was pleased with Zhou’s performance at the games. “His overall performance is as good as expected,” he said.

Wang Huan, Yang’s coach, said the child skater made great progress over the past two years of training, and prepared herself well before the provincial games.

“Yang showed her normal level in the competition, as she fulfilled the plan and made efforts to adjust moves,” Wang said.