(November 27, 2006)

Emanuel Sandhu placed fifth in his second ISU Grand Prix event of the season, the 2006 Cup of Russia.

The Cup of Russia, which was the fifth of six ISU Grand Prix events this season, was held Nov. 23-26 in Moscow.

Sandhu was third after delivering a strong short program on Friday. He placed eighth in the free skate, which gave him a combined score of 185.45 and a fifth-place finish overall.

Christopher Mabee was seventh in the short program and 12th in the free skate to earn a combined total of 161.16 points, placing him 10th overall.

France’s Brian Joubert won the gold medal, while American Johnny Weir was second and Russia’s Ilia Klimkin won bronze.

In the pair event, Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sébastien Fecteau were fifth overall after placing fifth in both the short program and the free skate. They earned a total of 140.63 points.

Capturing the gold medal were the German team of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. Russians Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov finished second, while their teammates, Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov won the bronze medal.

The pair team of Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay were forced to withdraw from the event after Langlois’ skates didn’t arrive in Russia.

Ice dancers Mylène Girard and Bradley Yaeger also withdrew from the event due to injury.

There were no Canadian women competing at the Cup of Russia.

The sixth and final ISU Grand Prix event of the season, the 2006 NHK Trophy, will take place Nov. 30 - Dec. 3 in Nagano, Japan.