China's Huang Xintong (R) and Zheng Xun perform during the couples preliminary round free skating event at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow, April 26, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - China's ice dance pair, Huang Xintong and Zheng Xun, finished Tuesday its preliminary round in the 2011 Figure Skating World Championships here at a fourth ranking, successfully advancing to the short dance.  

Some 17 couples have competed in the preliminary round and 10 of them have advanced to the short dance to compete with the 15 direct entries.

Huang and Zheng, who have won their crown in 2011 Asian Winter Games in February, finished fourth at 75.45 points, while Canadian pair Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje ranked first with 87.22 points.

The short dance was scheduled for April 29.

On March 24, the International Skating Union (ISU) decided that Russia would replace quake-hit Japan as host of the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for April 25 to May 1.

The ISU World Figure Skating Championships had been held in Russia three times before. Moscow hosted the event in 2005, and St. Petersburg hosted the very first championships in history in 1896 and then in 1903.