Armenia returns to Figure Skating

After a five-year interval, Armenian figure skaters will compete in the European figure skating championship to be held in January 2009 in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

The men’s team of figure skaters includes Gegham Vardanyan, 20, while Ani Vardanyan, 18, will represent Armenia in the women’s team. The last time Armenia participated in the championship was in 2004.

Gegham and Ani Vardanyan will soon leave for the Latvian capital of Riga to participate in the sport/instructional meeting.

Nearly 30 countries have been granted the right to participate in the 2009 European figure skating championship. The leading figure skaters in 2008 were from France, Russia, Sweden, Italy and Finland.

The European championship will kick off on January 20, while the men will begin competition on January 21. One of the favorite skaters from the men’s team is French Brian Joubert.

In the past couple of years, Anastasia Grebionkina and Vazgen Azroyan represented Armenia, but these athletes no longer take part in professional competitions because they currently participate in different shows taking place in Russia.