体坛英语新闻：Takahashi becomes 1st Japanese male figure skater to win worlds

TURIN, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Daisuke Takahashi became the first Japanese male figure skater to clinch the world champion at the World Figure Skating Championships here on Thursday.

He was also the first Asian men's figure skater to take the victory at the 100-year-old world-class competition.

Daisuke Takahashi became the first Japanese male figure skater to clinch the world champion at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday.

"Four years ago, I got difficult time here," said Takahashi, reminding his eighth finish at the Turin Olympic Games. "Today, I performed my best here. I'm so happy. I enjoyed a lot."

Takahashi, 24, led the men's competitions after Wednesday's short program and completed a flawless free skating as the last competitor on Thursday, winning the gold medal with an overall score of 257.70 points.

"I enjoyed the competition a lot. The audience helped me and I didn't made any mistake. It's very good," said the 24-year-old.

Daisuke Takahashi became the first Japanese male figure skater to clinch the world champion at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday.

Takahashi is the first Japanese male figure skater to medal at the Olympic Winter Games as he took a bronze from Vancouver more than one month ago. He also made history for Japanese men's figure skating by winning a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships.

Canadian Patrick Chan took the silver medal in 247.22 points and French Brian Joubert grabbed the bronze in 241.74 points.

Joubert was the only one to show a quadruple jump in the short program and managed to land two more in his free skating. However, the 25-year-old seemed losing his strength then and fell for a triple jump.

"I'm very happy about the competition. I made some mistakes in the free skating because I was tired," said Joubert who clinched his fifth consecutive World Championships medal on Thursday. "I'm very happy because I did two quad."

After the original dance in ice dance, Canada's Olympic champion Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and runner-ups Meryl Davis/Charlie White from the United States kept the top two positions.