"PetersburgCity.com" May 15, 2003

On June, 6 Russian figure skaters will make a present for the city: will perform their best programs. This is the second jubilee present of the Figure Skating Federation for the city. Figure-skating Grand Prix took place in March. Some of the best athletes from different countries of the world took part in this event. In June only Russian figure skaters will demonstrate their talents to the audience: Evgeni Plyushchenko, Alexey Urmanov, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikhuralidze, Irina Slutskaya.

However the show plays more significant role than the one of a jubilee present only. Oleg Nilov, St. Petersburg Figure Skating Foundation chair, says that "this event will start a new era in figure skating history". Such events are frequently organized in the West, and Russian figure skaters show their skills in different cities of Europe and America, but rarely perform in Russia. "Our performance signifies the return of sport to the homeland", trainer Mikhail Mishin said. The foreign skaters were not invited to take part in the show, as Russian figure skaters are indisputably stronger.

The organizers of the show had to turn to Western producers. Michael Collins, who partially finances the show, arrived to our city today. In our country none has expressed serious interest in sponsoring figure skaters.

"Some banks finance sport teams, who play badly and thus discredit their sponsors. Use your reason and place your logo on the back of Evgeni Pluyshchenko √ he will not miss a goal", appealed Alexey Mishin to potential sponsors.

Evgeni Plyushchenko, famous skater, was named the main ideologist of the event. "Zhenya [short version of Evgeni] was a bacteria, which turns milk in sour cream and sour cream in butter", Alexey Mishin allegorically described his student.

Oleg Nilov assured the journalists, that the show will be up to the high international standards and invited residents to the show.