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Name: Melanie Yip Tan-tan

School: American International

Grade: Year 13

Sport: Figure skating (ice dance)

Achievements: Melanie, 17, and her ice dance partner Suo Bin, 24, recently achieved their best-ever result, clinching a bronze medal at the Asian Figure Skating Championships in Taiwan.

The pair have been competing together for two and a half years, and have built up a strong understanding in a sport that requires delicate footwork, grace and power.

Tan-tan first learned skating when she was age 10, living in Singapore. She then spent four years developing her skills in Harbin and Beijing.

With no coach in Hong Kong to guide them, the pair are self-taught and have been training every day at the Festival Walk rink in Kowloon Tong. They did a gruelling training stint in Moscow recently, where elite coaches pushed them to their limit.

They will move to Los Angeles in January, where they will learn from a top coach. Melanie says they will train up to 10 hours a day in a bid to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Soundbite: 'Ice dance is a combination of sport and art. You need the ability to show emotion and interpret music well. The result in Taiwan was good because we are so young compared to others. We have been together about two years. The winners in Taiwan had been together eight years. With patience I know we can be successful. We need a lot of space to practice, and being sponsored by Swire [which runs the Kowloon rink] has been great.'

From her coach: 'Tan-tan and Suo Bin's bronze medal at the Asian Figure Skating Championships proved their ability to succeed and shows their potential for further success,' said Yip Siu-yin, chairperson of Hong Kong Skating Union.

'In the past two years their partnership has improved, lifting their national ranking and winning awards. Tan Tan and Suo Bin are known for their difficult choreography and quality of edges. They are hard-working and will do anything for their ultimate goal - the Olympics.'

Ambitions: Their dream is to compete in the Olympic Games - the pinnacle of the sport. Turin 2006 has come too soon for the young pair, but Vancouver 2010 is a realistic target.



Ice princess dreams of the Olympics