BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The 2012 Innsbruck Youth Winter Olympics women's figure skating bronze medalist Li Zijun withdrew from the Cup of China, the third stage of ISU Grand Prix series, on Friday, making her teammate Li Xiangning runaway leader in the selection competition within Chinese team for its sole Olympic figure skating spot.
Li Zijun was reckoned as the promising star who could lead Chinese women figure skating to the peak, but the 20-year-old's best performance was only the seventh place at the 2013 world championships. She ranked 14th at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
As the host of the Cup of China, Chinese figure skating team is allowed to send at most three skaters/pairs in each category. Li Zijun was scheduled to participate in together with her teammates Li Xiangning and Zhao Ziquan. However she quit unexpectedly before the start of the circuit. Chinese head coach Zhao Hongbo said she was injured without providing specific information.
In this year's World Figure Skating Championships, 17-year-old Li Xiangning finished 14th in women's event, while Li Zijun ranked 21st, which meant Chinese women figure skating only won one ticket for the Pyeongchang Games according to the qualifying rules.
Chinese team had a series of selection rules within the team for the sole women's Olympic spot, considering skaters' performances in competition both nationwide and worldwide.
Li Zijun picked a silver medal at this year's Asian Winter Games. However in the new season, she was absent from the ISU Challenger series in Nice last month, where Li Xiangning grabbed the silver medal with the top score in free skate.
Li Xiangning was eighth after Friday's short program, while another Chinese skater Zhao Ziquan sat in the bottom at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.
With Li Zijun missing more and more competitions, Li Xiangning was one step closer to the Pyeongchang Games.
"First and foremost is mindset. Don't be hurry and do my best," said Li Xiangning when being asked about the competition towards Chinese women' s sole Olympic ticket.
"As we all know that Chinese women's figure skating only has one Olympic ticket. All of us expect to represent China. I'm looking forward to Pyeongchang, but at the same time, I want to increase my difficulty and perform better in jump and skate."
