Wataru 3rd in Wing Foil All Japan Championship Race

Wataru Tajima shows off his third place medal which he won in his race class during the Wing Foil All Japan Championship last Nov. 27 in the waters off Okinawa, Japan.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Wataru Tajima continues to make waves in the sport of windsurfing as he racked up the bronze medal in his race class during the Wing Foil All Japan Championship last Nov. 27 in the waters off Okinawa, Japan.

After seven races, his total score earned him the third spot overall among 59 other competitors.

First place went to Kazuaki Kusunose and second place was Kenta Anami.

In an interview with Saipan Tribune, the Saipan born and raise Tajima said “I felt happy winning third for the first All Japan Wing Foil Race. Through the race, I was kind of mad at myself because I made so many simple mistakes that I usually don’t, and I think it’s because the conditions were rough. The wind direction shifted a lot, and there was a lot of seaweed, which made it hard for me to do good runs in the races.”

On his Facebook post, he said “thank you so much everyone for your support. Next time, I’ll do my best to get the championship trophy. Thank you Ogawa-san, Yumi-san, and Andy-san for taking care of everything this time.”

Wataru Tajima, right, secured a podium finish in the Wing Foil All Japan Championship held last Nov. 27 in the waters off Okinawa, Japan. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

This is not the last time that Okinawa will see Tajima as he said he will surely race there again.

After his race, Tajima also announced that he will be going to Tenerife, Spain for a month from January 2023 to February 2023 for windsurfing training with the Professional Windsurfers Association, or PWA world tour riders.

He said, “I’m really happy to go there and I’m looking for some sponsors because for me to be in the world tour next year, I will need a lot of money and support.”

“I know it would cost a lot of money and be difficult to go abroad during this period, but after finishing PWA, I had a lot of things to think about, and I thought if going now would be my chance, so I decided to go. If I go out there I can practice with some of the top athletes in the world every day and I’m going to learn a lot. I’m going to work hard to come back to level up more than I am now,” Tajima said on his Facebook post.

Tajima recently debuted as a professional windsurfer and won third place overall in his professional windsurfing debut last June 24-26 at the Tsukasa Japan Cup 2022 in Amami Oshima, Kagoshima in Japan.

After his debut, Tajima is still competing for an Olympic berth to represent Japan in windsurfing for the 2024 Olympics.

Tajima is the son of Hiroshi and Hiroko Tajima of Saipan. He was taught windsurfing by his dad at the age of 12 at the Seawind Marine Sports in Micro Beach behind Hyatt Regency Saipan.

He relocated to Japan in March 2020 to hone and practice his skills as a windsurfer.