But under the new scoring system, which was applied in 2004 by the International Skating Union (ISU) to replace the old 6.0 system, raising the difficulty of a pair's moves is not necessarily an efficient way to improve scores. Judges instead award points based on technical elements and overall program performances.

Each season new new items are added to the scoring system to make it more detailed.

At the World Grand Prix Finals last month in Turin, Zhang/Zhang and Pang/Tong finished second and third, respectively, behind Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, although doubts were cast on the fairness of the judging in some of their technical elements.

Yang Dong, director of the figure skating department of China's Winter Sports Administrative Center, said this is a sign that the new system still needs some work.

"The new judging system is still improving and different technical judges may have a different evaluation of the same element," he said.

"We still have to communicate more with those ISU judges and listen to their advice."

Under the new system, each element in a skater's routine, such as a jump or a spin, is worth a certain amount of points. If a skater performs an element perfectly, he or she receives all the points for that element. The way each specific element is judged therefore becomes very important.

Pang Qing/Tong Jian "The new system is more fair and depends more on the details of the movements," Yang said. "I believe most of the ISU judges are impartial. They just have to be familiar with the updated system gradually."

【体坛英语资讯：Pairs skaters challenged by system】相关文章：

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Daniel Radcliffe reveals he suffers from dyspraxia

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Cruz sisters don fedoras for Mango ads

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Linday Lohan crash lawsuit will go to trial

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Uma Thurman may testify in stalker trial

★ 体坛英语资讯：Liu, Murofushi spearhead Asian hopes

★ 体坛英语资讯：26-year-old Universiade athletics record shattered

★ 体坛英语资讯：Tyson Gay: The fastest sprinter in Osaka

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Quake film series completed

★ 体坛英语资讯：Switzerland beat Hungary 3-2 in World Cup qualifier

★ 体坛英语资讯：Yao delivers victory in national team return