Israeli skating duo captures gold medal

By LIONEL GAFFEN

METULLA (December 20) - Israel's Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhanovsky won the gold medal in the dance competition at the Skate Israel '98 tournament at Metulla's Canada Center last night.

The couple, ranked 14th in the world, will soon proceed to Prague for next month's European Championships, followed by the world championships to be held in Helsinki in March.

Galit, when asked about the rigors of their training, replied that they train six days a week, which includes about five hours a day of ice time, and another three hours a day of conditioning and ballet.

Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland came first in the pairs competition. They are currently ranked fifth in the world, and are No. 4 in Europe. "It's a great feeling to win here in Israel and gives us a tremendous surge of confidence for the upcoming European championships," Mariusz said.

Dimitri Dmitrenko of the Ukraine took first place in the men's event, and is currently ranked fifth in Europe.

A tremendous upset took place in the ladies' event, as Tatiana Malinina of Uzbekistan, currently ranked 14th in the world, captured the gold. Anna Rechnio of Poland, ranked fifth in the world, and clearly the favorite, could manage only fourth place.

The competition ended last night with a gala closing ceremony.