A 12-year-old Japanese student has won an international competition for young pianists in Kiev, the Japanese Embassy in the Ukrainian capital said Thursday.
Ryoma Takagi, a first-year student at Katsuragi Junior High School in Chiba, clinched the junior group title Monday in the final round of competition, beating participants from Ukraine, China and Belarus, the embassy said.
"I'm very happy. I felt nervous in the qualifying rounds, but I thought I may be able to win the championship after playing in the final round," he was quoted as saying.