World ice dance champions from Bulgaria, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski ranked second after the compulsory dance at the 2007 World Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo.

The pair performed 14th at the competition which started at 5am Bulgarian time on March 20. The competition will be launched officially at 9:30am and will involve 29 pairs.

The compulsory dance which Denkova and Staviski had to perform was rumba. The pair scored 37.42 while the current leaders Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Canada scored 38.96.

Russian couple Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin ranked third with 37.29 points, Focus news agency reported.

The ice dancers will try to defend their title from the 2006 championship in Canadian Calgary, when they won the gold.