China has been a pairs figure skating powerhouse since 2002, when Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo snapped the dominant streak of Western skaters to bring China its first-ever pairs world championship title.

But if Chinese figure skaters want to continue their recent success, they still have a lot of work to do on the ice.

Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao Now that Shen/Zhao have temporarily withdrawn from international competition, the pressure for success falls squarely on the shoulders of two other pairs - Olympic silver medalists Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao and 2006 world champions Pang Qing/Tong Jian.

As if competing without their stars wasn't enough of a challenge, some say the new scoring system puts Chinese skaters at a further disadvantage.

"Some of the items of the new judging system take the advantages of western pairs, and some of the judges are very hard on the Chinese skaters," said Yao Bin, head coach of China's national figure skating team.

"But we can do nothing but adjust ourselves to it and improve ourselves to a much higher level."

The situation is not unfamiliar to Yao, known as the "godfather of Chinese figure skating". Yao has coached Chinese pairs since the days when Shen/Zhao struggled to make it into even the top three, and was by their side when they stepped atop the highest podium at the worlds.

"When Shen/Zhao chased the world championship title, they had to do more difficult movements and perform extremely better than others from Europe and America," Yao recalled. "Now the situation is the same for the other two duos. We have to be severe on ourselves firstly and try to do much better if we want to be approved by judges."

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