BEIJING - Turin Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo will be the big names on the ice when they set off defending their figure skating pairs title for the third time running at the 6th Asian Winter Games.

China's Shen Xue (R) and Zhao Hongbo perform during the pairs free skating at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating-NHK Trophy in Nagano, central Japan December 1, 2006. The pair finished first in the pairs event. [Reuters]

Shen, 28 and Zhao, 33, will begin their title defence on February 2 in probably their last winter Asiad and a victory alone is not all they pursue any more.

"Winning the title again is important but more than that, we would like to push our limits and see what happens," said Shen. "We will be very happy that we can break the 200 points barrier again."

Shen and Zhao pulled off their record high score of 206.54 to win the 2004 Grand Prix final.

The world champions in 2002 and 2003 once pondered retirement after they finished third in Turin Winter Olympics in 2006 but an Olympic gold is always the reason that makes them hesitate.

"We hope we can finish our skating career with an Olympic gold medal. In Turin, we were more or less limited due to my injury," said Zhao, who suffered a torn Achilles's tendon but recovered miraculously right before the Turin Games.

"But we have been doing great recently. We are happy," he said. They defended their Grand Prix final title late last year.

"What concerns me is that whether we can keep the form at peak after three years. After all, we are not getting younger," he added.

"We may temporarily leave the national team next year which does not mean we retire. If possible, we will come back for the 2010 Olympics, " he said in an article posted on their official Website.

Right now Shen and Zhao are ready to lift their fourth Asiad title in Changchun and also prepared to face challenge from their fellow Chinese and reigning world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian.

Pang has just recovered from some nephritic disease before Tong was given stitches on the forehead following a car crash, which left them little time to train systematicaly for the Asiad.

"We can only hope for the best," said a low-key Tong.