Former Skate America Champion Kozuka Takahiko of Japan led the men's competition after hitting 77.40 points in the short program at the Cup of China ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2010/2011 on Friday.

Takahiko began his new "Soul Man Medley" routine with a clean triple lutz plus toeloop. "It's the first formal contest in this season and also it's my first time here in the Cup of China. I'm satisfied with my performance so far," said Kozuka.

Reuniting with his previous coach Veronique Guyon, Brian Joubert of France stumbled a little at his Triple Axel but finally embraced a score of 74.80 to place second after the short program. [ Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic, the winner of last year's Ice Challenge who made his "big change of career" by moving into Canada, fought to shrug off his "disastrous" last season memory. He gained 70.31 points with new season short program music -- Singing In the Rain.

Nagasu Mirai of United States led the women's short program in 58.76, followed by Suzuki Akiko and Ando Miki of Japan. Skating to Just For You by Giovanni Marradi, Bingwa Geng, a 16-year-old Chinese female starlet, scored a personal best of 51.09 points for the fourth place.

Chinese rising star duo Sui Wenjing/Han Cong almost beat their compatriot Pang Qing/Tong Jian, the winner of NHK Trophy, to lead the short program. Unfortunately, they were deducted by two crucial points.

"We came here today to learn from the other pairs, since it was our first contest in senior level," said the 18-year-old Han Cong, who teamed up with the 15-year-old Sui in 2007 and won three junior titles last year. "We will try our best tomorrow."

Pang Qing/Tong Jian were at the top scoring 60.62 points, followed by Sui/Han. Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze of Russia, the gold medalists of last month's Skate Canada, finished fourth in pairs short program.