Figure skating Olympic and world silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China will not be competing at the upcoming Asian Winter Games due to scheduling clash with the World University Winter Games.

Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, best remembered for coming back from Dan's horrific fall in the free skate at the Turin Winter Olympics last February, have been named to represent China at the 23rd World University Winter Games, which is slated for January17-27 in Turin, Italy, while the 6th Asian Winter Games will take palce from January 28-February 4 in Changchun, the capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province.

Wang Yumin, an official at the country's winter sports administration center, said the two Zhangs will be China's major medal prospects at the World Winter Universiade.

"But I don't think their absence will dampen our chances of winning the pairs event at the Asian Winter Games," said Wang. "After all, we have two other top pairs - Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo and Pang Qing/Tong Jian."

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the world title in 2002 and 2003 and took silver in 2004 before missing the world championships for the next two years after Zhao suffered an Achilles' tendon injury while practicing a triple toeloop.

After barely missing the medals podium in the Turin Games, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, ranked third in a nation where pairs are king, defeated Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao to win their first world crown in Calgary.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2007)