Canadian pairs skaters in hunt for medal

Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro were in third place after the pairs short program Friday at the NHK Trophy event in Japan. Moore-Towers, from St. Catharines, Ont., and Marinaro, from Sarnia, Ont., had 67.70 points. Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert of Russia were first with a season-best 73.48 points and Cheng Peng and Yang Jin of China were second with 70.66. The Canadians won bronze last month at Skate Canada. Russian figure skater Elizaveta Tuktamysheva led after the women’s short program. Shoma Uno of Japan finished first in the men’s short program despite falling during a combination jump. Many of the skaters in this weekend’s fourth Grand Prix event are aiming to qualify for the Dec. 6-9 Grand Prix Final in Vancouver.