BMX FreestylerRayyan Ibrahim (formerly Shintaro Misawa) riding in Austin, Texas.

29-year-old Japanese flatland pro Shintaro Misawa, announced via YouTube video his conversion to Islam on Friday, including a new name (Rayyan Ibrahim) and plans to move to Malaysia in the near future. "I converted to Islam to start new life," stated Ibrahim (formerly Misawa). "I will live in Malaysia in the future. Malaysia's official religion is Islam. Many riders too," he added.

Riding in the pro class for several years now, Ibrahim's brand of riding is marked by a unique front wheel-centric setup, which includes no rear pegs, a cassette hub on the rear wheel and a custom 17" top tube Colony Cube frame. His riding, a mixture of smooth rolling, pumping links, has been featured in videos such as "Same Thing Daily 1 and 2" as well as contests such as the BMX Flatland World Classic and JoMoPro. Sponsored by ColonyBMX, SEV-sports, Zerofit, Coopervison and Sequence, Ibrahim plans to study Arabic and eventually move from the Machida district of Tokyo to Malaysia. "I also want to learn Malay," he added.

As far as BMX goes, Shintaro's name change may be the first of its kind, but I'm sure his riding will continue to progress in much the same route. To keep up with the rider formerly known as Shintaro, check out his new blog: http://rayyanibrahim.blogspot.com/