[ICE TIME] Shoma Uno Back in Spotlight with Triumph at NHK Trophy

Shoma Uno won the NHK Trophy by a decisive margin on Saturday night, November 13. It was Uni's first victory in an international competition in three years. Una and Zhou secured their spots in next month's Grand Prix Final in Osaka. Vincent Zhou will be a medal contender at the Beijing Olympics. He was unable to execute his ambitious free skate to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and lost to Unu by nearly 30 points. He blamed disruption in his training routine for his disappointing free skating. The competition is comprised of five men: Hanyu, Unos, Kagiyama, and Americans Nathan Chen and Vincent. Zhou.

Rino Matsuike finished sixth in the NHK Trophy in Tokyo. She is a contender for the Olympic team this season. Mitsuike is still recovering from an ankle injury. Her next Grand Prix assignment is at the Cup of Russia in Sochi later this month. She will train hard and put another combination in her program. Shoma Uno won the competition. He is coached in Nagoya by Machiko Yamada and Mihoko Higuchi. They are his former mentors. The competition took place in front of a crowd of 10,000 people. Kaori Sakamoto won. Mana Kawabe was the runner-up.

Higuchi won Challenger Series event in Graz, Austria, on Saturday with a total score of 189.43 points. She excelled in her short program, hitting a nice triple axel in the routine to "Your Song" but couldn't repeat it in free skate. The 20-year-old won silver medal at the 2018 world championships.

Yuma Kagiyama won the GP in Turin two weeks ago. He will compete at the Internationaux de France this week. His teammate Shun Sato came fourth at Skate America. Japan has no entries in pairs or ice dance in France. Anna Shcherbakova, Alena Kostornaia, Mariah Bell and Karen Chen will take part in the women's event.