Another day passed at the Olympics in Vancouver with no medals for Russia, leaving it 19th in the medals table with just one bronze, but Russia's reigning Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko inspired hope for the country's first gold.
Plushenko leads after Figure Skating short program
Plushenko was the 10th to hit the ice at the Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday and his short program performance to "Concierto de Aranjuez" put him in top spot, where he remained as the rest of the skaters finished their routines.
The judges scored for the Russian 90.85 points, which is only 0.45 points less than the world record set by Plushenko himself last year at the European Championship in Estonia's Tallinn.
There is still plenty of scope for further Russian disappointment, however, as Plushchenko's closest rival, U.S. skater Evan Lysacek, is only 0.55 points behind and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi is 0.05 points further back.
Another Russian figure skater, Artem Borodulin, scored his personal best of 72.24 points and finished in 13th place of the short program.
Team Russia creams Latvia in ice hockey opener
Two-time reigning world champions Russia began their Olympic ice hockey tournament with a crushing 8-2 victory over Latvia.
The world's No. 1 ranked team led 3-0 after the first period and were cruising after adding another goal in the second, but Latvia scored to open the final period and the Russians were stung back to life, adding three goals in quick succession before closing out the 8-2 win.
Danis Zaripov, Alexander Radulov and two-time NHL MVP Alexander Ovechkin scored in the opening period, with Pittsburg Penguins forward Yevgeny Malkin adding the second period's only goal.
But Latvia's Herberts Vasiljevs scored past Russian goalie Yevgeny Nabokov some 30 seconds after the start of the third period, sparking second goals for Ovechkin and Zaripov, and then one for Ilya Kovalchuk.
Latvia's Girts Ankipans got another consolation for Latvia before Russian captain Alexei Morozov scored the game's 10th and final goal with just over a minute remaining.
Sports minister hopes for better results in Baithlon
Earlier in the day, Russia's biathletes again finished short of the medals, but Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the performance in the women's 10 km pursuit gave hope for a medal in the biathlon relay.
Russia's best finisher, Anna Bulygina, came sixth, but all four competitors were in the top 20, an overall performance bettered only by Germany.
"You all saw it. This is a real result. The girls have shown in their times and shooting that they are now ready. We believe that we have a good chance in the relay," Mutko said.
Olga Zaitseva came seventh, Svetlana Sleptsova 18th and Olga Medvedtseva 20th. The pursuit gold was won by Germany's Magdalena Neuner, with Slovakia's Anastasia Kuzmina grabbing the silver, Marie Laure Brunet of France the bronze.
MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti)
