KYODO NEWS - Mar 12, 2019 - 07:49 | Sports, All, Japan

A pair of figure skates used by Japan's two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu were sold Monday for a hammer price of about 7.12 million yen ($64,000) at an online charity auction for the reconstruction of the country's northeastern region hit by a massive earthquake eight years ago.

"Eight years have passed since the disaster, but there are many areas still in the process of reconstructing. I'd like to also contribute to such efforts so I again this year sent my item," Hanyu said prior to the auction.

About 460 people bid for Hanyu's skates in the auction on the Yahoo! Japan website starting from a bid price of 1 yen.

It was held to raise money for the region devastated by the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami that left more than 15,000 people dead and triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis.

Since 2016, Hanyu, a native of the northeastern city of Sendai, has been donating items for the auction.

(A screenshot from an auction site organized by Yahoo Japan Corp. shows a pair of figure skates used by Yuzuru Hanyu that sold for a hammer price of some 7.12 million yen. The seller's ID is pixelated.)