Figure Skating: Plushenko Withdraws from Cup of Russia Grand Prix

MOSCOW, November 13 (R-Sport) - Evgeny Plushenko has pulled out of next week's Cup of Russia Grand Prix with a minor knee injury, his coach was quoted as saying Wednesday. 

The 31-year-old was expected to compete after skating to victory by more than 40 points at the Volvo Cup in Riga last week, his first competition in nine months after undergoing surgery on a back injury. 

But Plushenko, who targets gold at his home Winter Games in February, suffered a knee injury in training on Wednesday and won't be appearing at the November 22-24 event in Moscow.

"Today during training Zhenya received a micro-injury of the left knee and doctors have recommended the athlete to decrease his workload," Alexei Mishin was quoted as saying on the Russian Figure Skating Federation website, using Plushenko's nickname.

"Zhenya can train, but it's been recommended that he wait for competition in order to rule out any possible negative consequences," Mishin was quoted as saying. 

Earlier, the head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander Gorshkov, first broke the news of Plushenko's withdrawal from the Rostelecom Cup, the fifth Grand Prix of a six event season. 

"It's obviously a shame that this has happened," Gorshkov told R-Sport. "Plushenko's an outstanding athlete, for many he's an idol."

Plushenko is the 2006 Olympic champion from Turin and is on course to appear in his last competition on home ice at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. He must still formally qualify through either the Russian national championships in December or the European championships in January. 

Host nation Russia only has one spot in Sochi. Plushenko has growing competition for that place including from up-and-coming skater Maxim Kovtun. Kovtun, 18, finished second behind Chinese sensation Han Yan at the Cup of China earlier this month.