Russian figure skating pair to miss Euro champs

Russian figure skating pair Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov announced Thursday that they will miss the European Championships, which start in Sheffield, England on Saturday. Smirnov had an appendix operation earlier this month and has still to regain full fitness, the pair's coach Tamara Moskvina said. "Under these circumstances we decided not to compete at the European championships. After he recovers completely we will start our preparations for the world championships," she added The world figure skating championship will take place at Nice, France, on March 26 - April 1. The Russian figure skating federation announced that another pair - Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov - will compete at the European championships instead of Kavaguti and Smirnov.