Chinese breakdancers return for Asian Games from World Championships

Chinese breakdancers returned home on Tuesday from the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) World Breaking Championship in Leuven, Belgium, to prepare for the event in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province.

Qi “Lithe-ing” Xiangyu achieved the biggest breakthrough in this year’s World Championship as he advanced to the boys’ semifinals. He secured three straight wins during the second group stage in the Round of 16 competitions, including beating the reigning champion, Philip “Phil Wizard” Kim of Canada to reach the quarterfinals as the group leader.

Qi then edged home dancer Dimitrios “Mighty Jimm” Grigoriou in the quarterfinals. Though he lost to Victor “Victor“ Montalvo of the U.S. in the semifinals, making the top four was already the best record for any male Chinese breakdancer (B-boy) at the World Championship. It also earned Qi a spot in the qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

“It’s a pity that I lost to Victor in the semifinals. I was one vote short in the first round,” Qi told Xinhua News Agency. “I believe that I lost simply because I’m not good enough. It takes absolute strength to claim a solid victory. So, I will work harder after I go home.”

“The coming Asian Games will be a huge challenge for me. I will take a few days off and then invest everything in preparing for it. Now I’m more confident than before in myself for the Asian Games,” he added.

In the girls’ event, Liu “671” Qingyi of China fell to Sya “Syssy” Dembele of France. The loss didn’t dampen her spirits, but gave her clear clues about how to improve her performance.

“I think I did well enough with the key moves, but could use some improvement in connecting and combining them,” Liu told Xinhua. “I’m still on the rise. There is too much information for me to take in right now. I need to put it in order and then digest it before I can perform better on the stage.”

Mounir Biba, head coach of the Chinese national breakdancing team, praised the performances of the B-boys and B-girls in the World Championship. He is confident that these B-boys and B-girls will do well in the Asian Games at home.

The breakdancing events will take place on October 6 and 7 at the Asian Games.