Denis Ten to represent Kazakhstan at 2011 World Figure Skating Championship

Kazakhstan will be represented by Denis Ten at the world figure skating championship in Moscow, Yryi Guskov, a state skating coach, told a Tengrinews.kz reporter. “At the moment Mr. Ten is in the USA. He plans to leave for Moscow April 24”, he added. Moscow will replace Tokyo as host city for the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships. International Skating Union (ISU) leaders chose the Russian capital, with its 12,000-seat Megasport Arena. According to Regnum, 199 skaters from 45 countries are expected to attend. About 700 journalists of 60 countries will be covering the event. “The official delegation will make up 1.5 thousand people, with about 5 thousand of spectators”, Alexandr Gorbatenko, Moscow Vice Mayor estimates. Denis Ten is the 2011 Asian Winter Games champion and 2006 Kazakhstan national champion. At the 2008-2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Belarus, he became the first skater from Kazakhstan to win an International Skating Union competition. He competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics after earning 2 spots for Kazakhstan at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, the first time Kazakhstan had ever qualified two spots in that event.