China's pairs figure skater Yu Xiaoyu announces retirement

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese pairs figure skater Yu Xiaoyu announced her retirement on Weibo recently.

"This is my decision after careful consideration," said Yu on Friday. "I will not give up figure skating but continue it in another way in the future."

Yu, 25, two-time world junior pairs champion with Jin Yang in 2014 and 2015, teamed up with veteran Zhang Hao in spring 2016. Zhang is a multiple-time world championship medalist and 2006 Olympic silver medalist.

Yu and Zhang competed successfully as they won the ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix Cup of China in 2016 and took silver in the 2016/17 Grand Prix Final. The pair also finished fourth at the 2017 World Championships and grabbed a gold medal in the Asian Winter Games in 2017.

Yu/Zhang took part in the Pyeongchang Games and finished eighth. However, the pair missed the 2019 World Championships and have seldom taken part in competition since.