{"id":57192,"date":"2026-06-01T19:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57192"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:05:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:05:01","slug":"for-this-hong-kong-yo-yo-champion-its-not-a-toy-its-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57192","title":{"rendered":"For this Hong Kong yo-yo champion, it\u2019s not a toy, it\u2019s art"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/01\/a7cbdf85-6cb2-48f0-9e5a-95008d8a13ea_754bc5c8.jpg?itok=CC4brves&amp;v=1780297041\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In April, 24-year-old Leo Chan Matsumoto clinched his third Hong Kong Yoyo Championship (HKYYC) title, cementing his status as one of the city\u2019s most accomplished competitive yo-yo players.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But it is not so simple as playing \u201ca toy that goes up and down\u201d, he says. \u201cThere\u2019s this stigma that a yo-yo is just something that is child\u2019s play, but that\u2019s not true, and I want to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chan Matsumoto competes in the 1A division, using a single unresponsive yo-yo \u2013 which does not return to the hand with a tug \u2013 tethered to his finger. With strict rules and scoring systems, the competition is divided into five distinct styles, from intricate string tricks with one yo-yo to routines involving two yo-yos or even offstring play, where the yo-yo is not attached to the string at all.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">\u201cThe judging criteria are very similar to <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">figure skating<\/span>, actually,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s 60 per cent technical execution \u2013 basically the amount of tricks you do \u2013 and 40 per cent musicality. That\u2019s your performance: how well you synchronise with the music, how clean your tricks are, your body use, your stage use \u2013 how you manoeuvre on stage.\u201d<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chan Matsumoto describes his own discipline in terms that may surprise outsiders, explaining how it is a combination of performance art and competitive sport based on choreography, musical interpretation and emotional expression with technical accuracy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/article\/3355291\/hong-kong-yo-yo-champion-its-not-toy-its-art?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In April, 24-year-old Leo Chan Matsumoto clinched his third Hong Kong Yoyo Championship (HKYYC) title, cementing his status as one of the city\u2019s most accomplished&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1501,4385,3569,5231,580,21530],"class_list":["post-57192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-art","tag-champion","tag-hong","tag-kong","tag-toy","tag-yoyo","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}