Oct. 21, 2004 1:01
Chait and Sakhnovsky lead Israelis to Skate America
By LIONEL GAFFEN

Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky have consistently been among the top seeds at the world-class events.
Photo: AP

Israel's top figure skaters, ice dancing pair Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky, will open their Grand Prix season tonight at Skate America, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But for the first time, the duo, who won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships, will not be the only Israelis competing.

Chait and Sakhnovsky, currently ranked seventh in the world, were the first Israelis to be invited to compete at a Grand Prix event during the 1998-99 season. Since then, they have consistently been among the top seeds at the world-class events. Now they are being joined by Julia Shapiro and Vadim Akolzin, who teamed up last year to form Israel's first-ever ice skating pair, and Roman Serov, who recently captured the silver medal at the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki.

The Grand Prix consists of six tournaments held in the USA, Canada, Japan, China, France, and Russia. The top six contestants in each event (men, women, pairs, and dance) will square off in Beijing at the Grand Prix Final on December 16-19. Only the European and World Championships carry more prestige than the Grand Prix circuit.

Israel's other highly regarded ice dancers, 15th ranked Natalia Gudina and Alexei Beletsky, have been invited to compete at the NHK Trophy in Japan and the Cup of Russia.

This will be the first year that Israel will have representatives in all six of the Grand Prix events and invitees in areas other than the ice dancing, in which only the world's top skaters are invited.

One of the major questions the new season brings is how much of an effect the new judging system will have. During last year's trial with the new system, it was suspected that a number of judges were blatantly giving certain skaters, including the Israelis, much lower scores than were warranted. Although it was decided to post the judges' names on the Junior Grand Prix circuit after each event this year, it was decided that all other events would have the judges maintain anonymity, which in effect means that they will have a great deal of freedom with regard to their personal prejudices and political views.

Israel Ice Skating Federation chairman Boris Chait fears that the new judging system will continue to impeded the Israelis' progress.

"The new judging system, with the total anonymity and lack of accountability, will allow the same type of hanky-panky that went on last year, to the detriment of certain skaters, in particular, and for the sport, in general."

Israel has high hopes for Serov, who is returning to top international competition after sitting out a year for changing nationalities from Russian to Israeli. He was invited to Skate America last week, mostly in recognition of his Finlandia triumph.

Serov has a good reputation in the skating world after competing for Russia on the Grand Prix circuit in 2000 and 2001. His best result was at the 2001 Cup of Russia, when he placed second.