Ex-world figure skating champ Ando to miss GP series

Japan's two-time world figure skating champion Miki Ando has pulled out of this year's Grand Prix series citing insufficient conditioning after she failed to find a new coach, officials said Tuesday. The 2007 and 2011 world champion had been booked for the Cup of China in Shanghai and the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris next month, the third and fifth legs of the six-round series, after sitting out the 2011-2012 season. Ando, 24, parted company with Russian coach Nikolai Morozov after winning her second world title in Moscow in April last year. She has been helped by her trainer and other support staff in preparing for her comeback. Ando told the Japan Skating Federation in writing that she could not find a new coach "who will be indispensable for her campaign through the Grand Prix series", the federation said in a statement. "As a result, she has failed to make physical and mental adjustments in time for the Grand Prix Series," he said. Her absence from the GP events makes it impossible for her to qualify for December's national championships which will serve as Japan's trials for the world championships to be held in Canada next March.