Team Armenia in Turin: At least nobody died

By Suren Musayelyan

ArmeniaNow reporter



Winter Olympics

Armenian ice dancing pair Anastasia Grebenkina-Vazgen Azroyan finished just outside the top 20 as a result of three ice-dancing events in the Winter Olympics in Turin (Italy) on February 17, 19 and 20 in which 24 pairs took part. After the compulsory dance last Friday, the Armenian pair was in 22nd place with 24.28 points, after the second event – original dance – the Armenians were in 20th place with 43.83 points. However, as a result of the last event – free dance – they managed to finish only 21st overall, with a score of 69.88.



Meanwhile, skiers Edmond Khachatryan and Hovhannes Sargsyan took part in cross-country individual sprint qualifications (1300 meters) on Wednesday. Only the top 30 of 80 skiers participating in the qualifications would progress to the finals. The Armenian skiers crossed the finish line in the 79th (Sargsyan, 2:47.68) and 80th (Khachatryan, 2:49.98) places, 34.15 and 36.45 seconds respectively behind the top finisher. The Armenians, respectively, were 27.23 and 29.53 seconds out of the qualification zone.



The last of the Armenian athletes to perform in Turin will be alpine skier Abraham Sarkakhyan. The 19-year-old athlete from Tsaghkadzor will compete in slalom and giant slalom on the penultimate day of the Olympics – February 25. (For Sarkakhyan’s results log on to http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/X05_20060225.html on Saturday).