Liu Qingyi of China, known as B-Girl 671, competes against Ami Yuasa of Japan, known as B-Girl Ami during the final event of the 2022 World Breaking Championships in Seoul, South Korea on October 22, 2022. Photo: VCG

Team China's B-girl Liu Qingyi pocketed silver in the 2022 WDSF World Breaking Championships on Saturday, making a breakthrough to bring China its first world championship medal.

Liu, who goes by B-Girl 671, ranked fourth in the preselection and had a solid performance in the following match, progressing to the last four with three Japanese breaking dancers.

In the semifinal, Liu defeated Riko Tsuhako of Japan 2-0 by showing her powerful moves and a good sense of rhythm.

However, in the intense gold medal match, Liu was defeated by 2019 world champion Ami Yuasa of Japan 2:1 to settle for silver. Defending champion Ayumi Fukushima of Japan clinched bronze in the event.

Setting the goal of being among the top eight before the event, Liu was satisfied with the silver medal as she recovered her form from the semifinal.

"It is my pleasure to compete with the champion." Liu said in a statement. 

"I will continue to carve my moves, and I look forward to next year's World Championships," she added.

In early September, Liu won the break dance World Battle 2022 held in Portugal. 

In early August, Liu won the women's division of the Outbreak 2022 hip-hop competition held in Slovakia, marking the first time a Chinese break-dancer had won a top international competition.

In the boys' category, Canada's Philip Kim secured gold by overcoming Japan's Shigeyuki Nakarai in the final. Victor Montalvo of the US pocketed the bronze medal.

China's Shang Xiaoyu, also known as X-rain, lost to his opponent by an ippon in the round of 32.

"The team is very talented." Chinese breaking team head coach Mounir Biba told Xinhua. "As we are approaching Paris 2024, we need to keep the takeaways in mind and go all out. I believe that we will do better next year."

Breaking will make its Olympic debut since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially added it to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in 2020.

Xinhua