Seventeen-year-old Mero Narita beat reigning overall World Cup champion Soko Yamaoka by 1.2 points to claim victory in the women's halfpipe at the Japan Cup snowboarding competition Monday.

News photoMero Narita performs in the women's halfpipe competition at the Japan Cup snowboarding meet in Hokkaido.

Narita, who has been named to the national team for the world championships to be held in Canada later this month, collected 35.8 points while Yamaoka, who won the discipline a day earlier, had 34.6 points on the final day of the two-day event in Hokkaido.

In the men's halfpipe, 16-year-old Kazuhiro Kokubo won top honors with 41.2 points. Domu Narita, the older brother of Mero, finished sixth.