Japan's Ochi Yosuke outplayed challengers from around the world to win the Air Guitar World Championship for the second consecutive year at a contest in northern Finland.
Ochi received the highest score from a panel of judges in the final on Sep. 7 at the Teatria rock club in Oulu, near the Arctic Circle.
Apart from the glory, he received a custom-made Flying Finn electric guitar worth US$3,400 (NT$112,739).
The quality on display was variable at best during qualifying rounds of the two-day event. The surprise of the qualifying round was Oulu native Hilkka "Gore Kitty" Suvanto, who has twice before scored the lowest points ever in the qualifying round but on this occasion achieved a perfect six from many of the judges.
However, it was Ochi who impressed the judges the most in the final showdown, ahead of Guillaume "Moche Pitt" de Tonquedec of France and Austria's Max "Herr Jaquelin" Heller.
Judges base their scores on how well contestants mimic playing the guitar and on "airness," an undefined quality that Ochi apparently possesses a great deal of.
"It's great. We've seen all the nations, united nations, 'rocking on the free world' and that's good, that's great," de Tonquedec said.
Spectators were welcome to join in as contestants played the song Rockin' in the Free World. The contest's official Web site says, "Air guitarists believe that all the bad things disappear from the world when everyone plays the air guitar."
One of the favorites for the title was American Andrew "William Ocean" Litz, who cannot actually play the guitar but whose act ends in a spectacular backflip onto an empty beer can. He finished 11th. (Staff Writer, with AFP)
來自日本的越智洋介擊敗各國對手，在芬蘭北部舉辦的空氣吉他世界冠軍錦標賽中再度蟬聯冠軍。
九月七日於芬蘭北部靠近北極圈的奧盧市堤翠亞搖滾俱樂部舉行的決賽中，評審團給越智最高分。
除了得到這份殊榮外，越智還得到一把量身訂製、價值三千四百美元（新台幣十一萬兩千七百三十九元）的「飛翔的芬蘭人」電吉他。
在兩天的資格賽中參賽者各具特色。令人感到驚訝的是，曾經兩度在資格賽中得到有史以來最低分的奧盧市民「高爾凱蒂」西爾嘉．蘇凡托，這回竟得到多位評審給予滿分六分的佳績。
然而，越智是在所有決賽參賽者中留給評審團最深刻印象的參賽者，打敗法國的「醜彼得」紀堯姆．同克德克與奧地利的「紳士賈克林」麥克斯．海勒。
評審團們根據參賽者對空模仿彈奏吉他的表現來給分，而越智顯然在所有參賽者中脫穎而出。
同克德克說：「這比賽很棒。我們藉此觀摩到各國參賽者「在自由世界裡搖滾」，這是很好，很棒的。」
空氣吉他世界冠軍錦標賽的官方網站指出：「比賽也歡迎觀賽者一同加入比賽的行列，彈奏一首《在自由世界裡搖滾》。」並說：「空氣吉他手們相信只要大家彈起空氣吉他，所有不好的事情就會從世上消失。」
其中奪冠希望濃厚的美國參賽者「威廉海洋」安德魯．里茲，雖然不會真正彈吉他，不過他後空翻到一個空啤酒罐上的特技演出，令人歎為觀止。他最後得到第十一名。（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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