Kavaguti and partner Smirnov. When a combination of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster upended Japan’s plans to host the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, a Japanese-born skater who competes for Russia was touched in more ways than one. Yuko Kavaguti was scheduled to compete in the pairs competition in her homeland in late March. But the catastrophe on March 11 led the Japan Skating Federation to regretfully back out of hosting, and the […]