Yoshie Onda, the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Prix figure skating title, will skip the upcoming Four Continents Championships to nurse her injured right leg, officials of the Japan Skating Federation said Thursday.
Onda will be replaced by Yukari Nakano, bronze medalist at the ongoing Winter Asian Games in Aomori Prefecture, at the Feb. 12-15 meet in Beijing.
Onda won the Bofrost Cup in Germany in November, less than three weeks before the 20-year-old Tokai Gakuen University student claimed her second Grand Prix victory at the NHK Trophy on home soil.
She withdrew from the Winter Asian Games due to the leg injury and saw late replacement Shizuka Arakawa capture the gold on Tuesday.