By ROY WARD
A KEYSBOROUGH student flew overseas to the world aerobics championships in The Netherlands and leapt to a world championship.
Asuka Fujihara, a 13-year-old Haileybury College student, won the male cadet world championship, winning over the seven-judge panel in the finals to earn the highest score.
Competitive aerobics involved competitors performing routines and being judged on their moves.
Fujihara said he was proud to take home a world championship after finishing third in the same event last year on the Gold Coast.
“I wasn’t too nervous in the first two routines, although I got a bit nervous in the finals but still put in my best routine,” he said.
“When everyone has competed we went up to the presentations and they went through each category.
“I knew I had got all ones from the judges so I knew I had won.”
Fujihara trains extensively for competitions and the trip to The Netherlands was his first overseas visit.
“I train three times a week and during the lead up I trained four times a week,” he said.
“I do one to two-hour sessions with a warm-up and then some two-minute full routines followed by fitness work after that.”
He also made friends with several of his competitors when then got time to mix after the competitions.
“I got to meet quite a few people there. They all spoke English so it was easy for us all to talk.”
Fujihara comes from a large family of seven brothers and sisters with older brothers Kenji, year 11, and Yoshi, year 9, both competing in other divisions.
Kenji came second in the senior male individual section and fourth in the senior pairs division with year 12 student Rachael Capp.
Yoshi came third in the junior pairs division with Lauren Smith (year 9).
