None of the Russian pairs were able to grab...

Russia"s main contenders for the medals - European 2010 champions Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov - finished in fourth place on Monday with 194.77 points.

Russia"s second pair Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov took seventh place, and Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov came 11th.

"The figure skating pairs tournament was very unusual. I have not seen such a poor performance at the Olympic Games for years," Sikharulidze told RIA Novosti. "Each pair performed very badly in the free program yesterday, especially the leaders with the exception of one Chinese pair."

Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov still had a chance of making it into the top three after their short program but all hopes were crushed after they both crashed to the ice in their free program.

"It seems that in the end they failed to control their nerves and perform the required technical elements," he said. "And [coach] Tamara [Moskvina] had prepared rather difficult elements for them," adding

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