Japan's women skaters dominated the single event by finishing one-two in figure skating at the 6th Asian Winter Games here on Friday.

Yukari Nakano, 22, trailed teammate Fumie Suguri after the short program, but rebounded to nail all triples in the free skating that pushed her to a winning total of 162.38 points, 0.33 points ahead of Suguri, her fourth-placed teammate in the Turin Olympics in 2006.

"I expected higher scores," said Nakano, the third in the national championships. "But I did not try the triple axel as I was not in good shape in the last two weeks, especially not good in jumping."

"I will tune up my condition when I am back to Japan and I hope to do triple axel in the World Championships," she added.

Nakano will compete in the World Championships in Tokyo in March, lining up with 16-year-old Mao Asada, the winner of 2005/2006 ISU Grand Prix Final and Miki Ando, 20, gold medalist in the ISU Skate America last October.

Suguri, 27, failed in two triples and took another silver medal following her second-place finish in the last edition of the Winter Asiad in Aomori, Japan.

"I am very disappointed about the mistakes, especially in the middle part," said Suguri. "I didn't know why because I did train very hard in that part. I think I will figure out what really happened after one or two days and then to think about the next tournament."

Suguri, who ranked third in the world, failed to make the squad to the World Championships after finishing fourth in the national championships.

China's Xu Binshu, 19, took the bronze medal with a total of 159.02 points.

In the pairs' event, China's veteran duo Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, the former world champions, led after the short program with 69.49 points, nearly four points ahead of compatriots Pang Qing/Tong Jian, the reigning world champions, and almost secured the gold medal.

"This is our highest short program score this year," said Zhao. "We felt much passion while skating here because of the hot cheer of the spectators."

"I will kiss my hands to them if we win tomorrow," he added.

In the ice dancing event, Japan's Nozomi Watanabe/Akiyuki Kido led the compulsory dance and the original dance with a total score of 74.96 points, followed by three Chinese pairs.

The 6th Asian Winter Games is to be concluded on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua