NOT READY FOR ARENA FOOTBALL

Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union, is aggressively pursuing a strategy to bring figure skating and speedskating more prominence in others parts of the world. He mentions the Koreas, China and Japan in particular as target areas.

However, he sees no room for growth into Africa and South America.

“It is not in the mentality,” he says. “As soon as cricket is played intensively in the United States, we will be ready to be strong with skating in Africa.”