For this Hong Kong yo-yo champion, it’s not a toy, it’s artwork

In April, 24-year-old Leo Chan Matsumoto clinched his third Hong Kong Yoyo Championship (HKYYC) title, cementing his standing as one of many metropolis’s most achieved aggressive yo-yo gamers.

But it isn’t as simple as taking part in “a toy that goes up and down”, he says. “There’s this stigma that a yo-yo is just something that is child’s play, but that’s not true, and I want to change that.”

Chan Matsumoto competes within the 1A division, utilizing a single unresponsive yo-yo – which doesn’t return to the hand with a tug – tethered to his finger. With strict guidelines and scoring programs, the competitors is split into 5 distinct types, from intricate string tips with one yo-yo to routines involving two yo-yos and even offstring play, the place the yo-yo isn’t connected to the string in any respect.

Chan Matsumoto describes his personal self-discipline in phrases that will shock outsiders, explaining how it’s a mixture of efficiency artwork and aggressive sport primarily based on choreography, musical interpretation and emotional expression with technical accuracy.