‘Sellout’ crowd passes on pairs

TOKYO —  The English version of the website for the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships announces in red letters that the event is sold out.

So only five members of Rena Inoue’s extended family -- her mother, paternal grandfather, two aunts and an uncle, all from Osaka in southwestern Japan -- could get tickets to watch their expatriate relative skate for the United States with partner John Baldwin. Some of Inoue’s cousins, other relatives and old friends had to stay home.

Yet barely half the 6,000 seats at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium were filled for the pairs short program Tuesday night, as some all-event buyers and some of those getting tickets from sponsors obviously are staying home until the singles competitions begin today.

In a country gone bonkers over figure skating since Shizuka Arakawa won the women’s Olympic title last year, putting worlds in a venue with a small seating capacity seemed foolish. The problem was compounded by a ticketing policy that concentrated on selling all-event tickets impossible to break up for individual sessions.

According to an International Skating Union spokesperson, the website actually was inaccurate, as there were tickets available for sale Tuesday.

Inoue, of Santa Monica, fell on her and Baldwin’s trademark element, the throw triple axel, leaving them sixth in a short program utterly dominated by former -- and apparently future -- world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China.

Olympic silver medalists Benjamin Agosto and Tanith Belbin of the U.S. were fifth after Tuesday’s ice dance compulsories, but only a quarter-point separates fifth from second. Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada are in first by a hardly comfortable 1.54 points.

Once criticized for a lack of artistry, Shen and Zhao skated with a refinement and unison that has complemented their consistent technical brilliance to put them in a league by themselves.

A personal-best short program score of 71.07 points gave them a comfortable lead over reigning European champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany.

Philip Hersh covers the Olympics for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.

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