QUEBEC CITY -- Emanuel Sandhu of Canada electrified the home crowd Thursday night and held the lead after the men's short program at Skate Canada.

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia led the pairs, while Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine were on top of the standings in ice dancing.

Meanwhile, ailing Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin should know Friday if he will be able to resume skating.

Yagudin, who withdrew from Skate Canada on Thursday with a degenerative hip ailment, also dropped out of Skate America last week.

His coach, Tatiana Tarasova, began crying when asked about her star pupil's health.

''I've worked with a lot of great skaters, but Alexei is the best,'' Tarasova said. ''He has pain, but (is a) real man.''

Yagudin won the men's short program at Skate America before withdrawing because of the pain caused by a defective right hip socket that doesn't completely cover the bone.

Yagudin admitted the condition could force him to retire.

''He cried at Skate America because he had to stop for the first time in his career,'' Tarasova said. ''He loves to compete.''

Earlier, top Americans Sarah Hughes, the women's Olympic champion at Salt Lake City, and Timothy Goebel withdrew from Skate Canada because of injuries.

Sandhu opened his routine with a perfect quadruple-triple toeloop combination and was the only competitor to perform a quadruple jump. Takeshi Honda of Japan fell while attempting the same combination and finished second.

In the pairs event, China's Qing Pang and Jian Tong were second with Canadians Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto third.

In ice dancing, Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon were second.