GOYANG, South Korea — Former world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian have another title to add to their collection.

Pang and Tong rallied to beat fellow Chinese Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao and take the pairs title today at Four Continents. It's the third time the 2006 world champions have won Four Continents, and gives them a boost going into next month's worlds.

Pang and Tong finished with 187.33 points, while Zhang and Zhang — no relation — scored 181.84.

"We are very satisfied with our performance," Tong said. "We made two mistakes, but we are improving all the time and hope to keep doing so for the world championships next month. This stands us in good stead for that."

Also Thursday, Japan's Mao Asada edged teammate Miki Ando in the women's short program while Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada solidified their lead in the ice dance competition.

The free dance is Friday. The women's final is Saturday.

The Chinese pairs are two of the best in the world, and they didn't disappoint in Goyang, a new city on the outskirts of Seoul. Zhang and Zhang, the Olympic silver medalists, led after the short program.

But Pang and Tong rebounded with a smooth free skate that was good enough to take the gold. They beat Zhang and Zhang by more than eight points in the free skate.

Zhang Hao had gotten a new pair of skates only two weeks earlier, and said after the short program he was still getting used to them. But his skates weren't as big a problem Thursday as mistakes on two of their jumps.

"We made several mistakes," Zhang Dan said. "After this competition we will work on that to get it fixed for the worlds."

Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, skating in only their second competition since last year's world championships, struggled and dropped to fourth. Fellow Americans Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski were third.

"It was a mediocre skate but we are pleased to be third," said Castile, who was sidelined by injuries during the Grand Prix season.

Asada was second to Ando at last year's world championships, but she's been the far better of the two this season. While Ando failed to even qualify for the Grand Prix final in December, Asada won the silver medal there behind South Korea's Kim Yu-na. Kim skipped Four Continents to rest a hip injury.

And on Thursday, Asada was better again. But not by much. Her score of 60.94 gives her a slim lead over Ando (60.07) and Joannie Rochette of Canada (60.04).

"It is good to end in first place but there is still a long way to go," Asada said. "Japanese skating is strong these days because there is so many of us competing together. We are all rivals and pushing each other and helping each other."

Earlier in the afternoon, Virtue and Moir extended their lead over their American training partners, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, with a solid showing in the original dance. The Canadians have a total score of 103.24, almost four points ahead of Davis and White.

Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre of the United States are in third with 91.03.