Royal crowned world champion with dominant display in Japan

TOKYO — China's Guo Pu delivered a landmark performance at the 2025 WDSF World Breaking Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on Saturday, capturing the women's title and securing China's first-ever gold medal at the event.

The 17-year-old, known as B-girl Royal, was the sole Chinese entrant in the women's competition and dominated the field throughout the tournament.

Guo opened with a second-place finish in the preliminaries and won successive rounds on Friday, ultimately advancing to the top eight as the only Chinese athlete to break through a field dominated by five Japanese breakers.

On Saturday, from the quarterfinals onward, Guo faced a string of Japanese opponents. She edged past Ayane Nakarai (B-girl Ayane) 2-1 in the quarterfinals and then swept Hiyo Yamada (B-girl Hiyo) 3-0 in the semifinals.

In the championship battle against 42-year-old veteran Ayumi Fukushima (B-girl Ayumi), Guo displayed remarkable composure and consistency, controlling the contest with explosive power moves and tight footwork to secure the title. Lithuania's Dominika Banevic (B-girl Nicka) took third place.

Guo's triumph marked the best result ever achieved by a Chinese break dancer at the World Championships. Prior to her breakthrough, China's best results had been silver medals won by Liu Qingyi (B-girl 671) at the 2022 and 2024 editions.

"I was quite nervous before the competition today. Facing many competitors from the host country added some pressure, and I felt I had to win. Now I'm really happy. Next, I will continue training and hope to achieve even better results in next year's competitions." Guo said.

Guo has been one of the hottest names in women's break dancing over the past year. Earlier in 2025, she won the FISE World Series in Montpellier, France, and went on to claim back-to-back titles at the Asian Youth Championships and the Asian Championships, establishing herself as a rising star on the international stage.

In the men's competition, Japan swept the men's podium, with Shigeyuki Nakarai (B-boy Shigekix) claiming gold, Isshin Hishikawa (B-boy Issin) winning silver and Hiroto Ono (B-boy Hiro10) claiming the bronze.

China's Shang Xiaoyu (B-boy X-Rain) advanced to the last 16 before being eliminated by Olympic bronze medalist Victor Montalvo (B-boy Victor) from the United States, while Qian Cheng finished in the Top 32.

Xinhua