Skating: Ice dance judging questioned

Courtney Jones, the former world ice dance champion who was the assistant ice dance referee at the world championships in Japan this week, said officials were troubled most by the fact that none of the top 20 changed places on the final day. 'I wish we could persuade the judges to consider it a little more carefully,' Jones said. He added that there was a judges' meeting yesterday to review the scoring of the final. The event was won by the Olympic champions, Oksana Gritschuk and Evgeny Platov, of Russia. Yuka Sato won Japan's first figure skating gold medal since Midor Ito's success in 1989 when she edged France's Surya Bonaly in the women's event. Bonaly, the European champion, was upset at missing the title by five judges' votes to four and risked a one-year ban by taking off her medal while on the podium.