China's Zhang Dan (R) and Zhang Hao perform in the pairs competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Canada, March 22, 2006. Zhang and Zhang placed second to win the silver medal. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Silver medallist Zhang Hao (L) and Zhang Dan (2nd L) of China stand with their gold medal winning compatriots Pang Qing and Tong Jian (R) at the World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Canada, March 22, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    CALGARY, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Pang Qing and Tong Jian beat fellow Chinese Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao to win the pairs gold medalat the World Figure Skating Championships here on Wednesday.

    It's the third pairs title for China in the last five years. The former ones were both taken by veterans Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

    Olympic runners-up Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, best remembered for coming back from her horrific fall in Turin, took the silver at the worlds despite a top finish after Monday's short program, followed by Russia's Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov.

    Skating last in the free skate, Pang and Tong rallied from a second place after Monday's short programme to seize their first world title.

    The two-time national champions, who each have been skating for two decades and teammed up in 1993, had practised a throw quadruple Salchow, but didn't need it Wednesday although Pang did fall on one of their opening moves, a triple toe loop.

    "This is our first time standing on the highest podium," said Tong. "I am in a mode of extreme happiness."

    The door was open for a new champion in Calgary after Olympic gold medallists and two-time world champions (2005, 2004) Tatiana Totmainina and Maxim Marinin announced their retirement after the Turin Games.

    Americans Rene Inoue and John Baldwin placed fourth, while host Canadians Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin rounded out the top five. Enditem