Akbasheva and Morozov enter dance hall of fame

Russian couple pick up fourth competition win this year, sweeping the board in all IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport sanctioned competitions on offer. 07 Dec 2013

Gulnaz Akbasheva and Vitalii Morozov Tokyo 2013

Gulnaz Akbasheva and Vitalii Morozov during their Winners Dance for the combi standard class 2 at the 2013 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Chmapionships.

ⒸIPC

By IPC

Nadiia and Ivan Sivak retained their place as the best in the world in the duo Latin class 2 after a gruelling five dances. They beat world No.1 Aleksandra Berdnik and Sergey Antonov of Russia.

Russia’s Gulnaz Akbasheva and Vitalii Morozov have today secured their place in wheelchair dance history by winning gold in the combi standard class 2 at the 2013 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships.

The world No. 1 couple knocked reigning World Champions Alexander Lyapin and Irini Gordeeva into an eventual sixth place to add to their Continents Cup, Holland Dansspetakal and Germany Rheinsburg titles from 2013.

Italians Susanna Spugnoli and Sebastien Mureddu retain their silver medal from the 2010 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships, whilst Belarus add to their medal haul for the day with a bronze for Hanna Harchakova and Ihar Kisialiou.

Nadiia and Ivan Sivak retained their place as the best in the world in the duo Latin class 2 after a gruelling five dances. They beat world No.1 Aleksandra Berdnik and Sergey Antonov of Russia.

Berdnik and Antonov could not improve on their silver from 2010 World Championships in Hannover, Germany, narrowly missing out on a tie-break with the Sivak’s by just one mark.

Slovakia’s Helena Kasicka and partner Milan Berko climbed to bronze medal position from a lowly sixth three years ago in Hannover in this event.

Kasicka picked up two medals at the first day of competition, her second coming in the combi standard class 1 with a gold for her and second dance partner Peter Vidasic, with whom she also holds world No.2 in this event. They improve on their bronze from 2010 and capitalise on their 2013 Continents Cup success.

Ukraine’s Nataliya Kolesova and Andrii Tovstyi joined the growing number of dancers who have come on well since Hannover 2010, claiming a silver medal – a four place improvement on their last World Championship performance.

Belarusians Veranika Makhortava and Aliaksei Zukhtsikau lose their world title, but proved they are still amongst the best in the world by finishing third.

Tomorrow (Sunday, 8 December) will see things hot-up with competitors mainly dancing Latin in the combi Latin class 1 and 2, with the duo standard class 2 title also up for grabs.

The headline event of the day is likely to be the combi Latin class 2, which will see world No.1 couple from Russia Galina Ryzkhova and Viacheslav Osipov look to finish 2013 on a high after their Continents Cup and Germany Rheinsburg wins. It will be Ukrainians Ivan Zamiga and Clena Dankevych looking to out-dance the Russians following their win of the event at the Holland Dansspektakal.

The closing dinner, which will follow the conclusion of the competition on Sunday, will feature a special screening of American film, Musical Chairs, Directed by Susan Seidelman of 1985 blockbuster Desperately Seeking Susan fame and produced by Janet Carrus.

News and updates will be posted on the IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport website and Facebook page.

The 2013 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships run from 7-8 December.