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BEIJING, Nov. 3-- Chinese pairs Sui Wenjing/Han Cong and Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao finished 1-2 in short program at the Cup of China, the third stage of ISU Grand Prix series, on Friday. Mikhail Kolyada of Russia and Gabrielle Daleman of Canada led the men's and women's short program. In the third of six stops on the global circuit, headliners look to demonstrate their podium potential with the arrival of the 100-day countdown to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. In their first international competition this season, world champions Sui/Han confirmed their dominant position at the event with an emotional performance of Hallelujah. The pair led the short program with 80.14 points, 8.77 ahead of teammates Yu/Zhang. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise of Italy were third at 63.76 points. "I'm satisfied with our performance today, especially the component score. The season opener was a bit nervous. We presented 60-70 percent of our training level," said Sui. European bronze medalist Kolyada underlined his status as top contender in men's event with a flawless presentation of Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major for a total of 103.13 points. Home skater and two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang received a standing ovation at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium for his heartfelt Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He sat second with his season best 93.89 points, though his quad lutz and triple toeloop was not clean. | 
