Azerbaijani skaters come out 12th in Sochi
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan's figure skating pair ranked the 12th in the free dance competition at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on February 17.
Azerbaijani sportsmen Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov finished their participation in the Winter Olympics with their breathtaking performance.
The pair started with the 8th place at the competition in the Iceberg Skating Palace, but collected 90.48 points in the competition which involved twenty pairs, and took the 12th place with a total of 148.63 points.
U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White took the first place, and also won gold at the short dances by collecting 78.89 points.
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were second with 76.33 points, while Russian athletes Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov took third place with 73.04 points.
Zlobina and Sitnikov have won gold at the 46th Golden Spin international tournament in Croatia, and silver at the 27th Trentino Winter Universiade in Italy.
The figure skating pair competed for Azerbaijan in the Olympic Games along with alpine skiers Patrick Brahner and Gaia Bassani Antivari, who will join the competition on February 19-21.
The Olympics are expected to have a positive effect on the development of winter sports in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan had been participating in the Winter Olympic Games since 1998 in skiing and figure skating sports.