ON THE SIDELINES : Soviets to Host Skating Event

NEW YORK —  Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano, winners of the last two Olympic gold medals in men’s figure skating, will compete against 1987 world champion Brian Orser next month in the first professional figure skating event ever held in the Soviet Union.

The Challenge of Champions is scheduled for Dec. 14 at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium with head-to-head competition in four events.

Among the skaters will be the Soviet ice dancing gold medalists Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin; Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert of the United States; Elena Valova and Oleg Vasilliev, Olympic and world champions from the Soviet Union; Kitty and Peter Carruthers, Olympic silver medalists from the United States, and three-time world champion Toller Cranston of Canada.