(January 4, 2008)

Ottawa, ON – Three-time Canadian champion, Emanuel Sandhu, has withdrawn from the 2008 BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships.

Emanuel, 27, is originally from Richmond Hill, ON, and now makes his home in Vancouver, BC. During his lengthy career, he has competed at 13 national championships as a novice, junior and senior, winning the senior men’s title in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and was the senior silver medalist on six different occasions. Internationally, he represented Canada at eight ISU World Figure Skating Championships and was named to two Winter Olympic Teams. He was the 2003 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Champion, defeating world champion Evgeni Plushenko when he won the title that year.

Although he had not competed this year, Emanuel received a bye to the national championships because of his third place finish in last year’s BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Halifax. His place in the Senior Men’s competition will be filled by 21-year old Karolin Metivier from St. Georges, Quebec who represents CPA St-Romuald / St-Jean.

Emanuel has been busy skating exhibition performances this year, and has also been focused on pursuing his passion for singing and acting. He has not ruled out resuming competitive training for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.