Another busy and exciting day awaits players and visitors tomorrow at the World Yo-yo Contest in Tokyo! The complete freestyle order can be found on the official website.
The semi-final round this year is where things get really serious, as only last year’s World Champions are seeded into the final round. All national and continental champions, in addition to the players qualified from the preliminary round, will have to prove their worth in this round.
These are some of the highlights in each division:
1A
48 players still remain in this division, and only the top 17 will join Gentry Stein in the final round. We saw great freestyles in the preliminaries, including a fantastic show by Shion Araya, but him and the other players from today will face tough competition. Among those seeded into the semi-final round are World Champions Hiroyuki Suzuki, János Karancz, Marcus Koh, last year’s runner up and 5A beast Takeshi Matsuura, Asian Champions Iori Yamaki and Ahmad Kharisma, European Champion Jakub Dekan and Mexican duo Paul Kerbel and Luis Enrique Villasenor. There are more favorites than spots in the final round!
2A
In addition to Hiraku Fujii, who dominated the preliminary round, we’ll also see the legend Shinji Saito, and Shu Takada competing in the semi-finals, and they should be among everyone’s favorites. Can the foreigners prevent an all-Japan 2A final round? Hong Kong veterans Liu Man Ki and Chan Chun Hay definitely have a chance, but it’s not going to be easy!
3A
With so many great 3A players competing, it’s hard to tell who can make it to the final round, but we have great hopes of seeing great shows from Patrick Borgerding and Ng Wang Kit, players who are not afraid to pull super risky bangers on stage! They will need every bit of concentration to go against super consistent players like Mizuki Takimoto, Taichiro Higashi, and Hank Freeman!
4A
A couple of World Champions failed to qualify for the semi-final round, and now Michael Nakamura is the only one competing for a spot in the final round, but even without the former champions, the roster here is stacked, with Ben Conde, Quentin Godet, Han Sanprasert, and Zac Rubino always bringing their best to the stage!
5A
The American players are on the spotlight in the 5A semi-finals, with World Champion Tyler Severance, last year’s runner-up Jake Elliott, and the winner from the preliminary round, Bryan Jardin, all with great chances of making it to the final round. Hideo Ishida and Yoshihiro Abe should be Japan’s best bets here. Also worthy of notice is Mexico’s Betty Gallegos. Tyler Severance’s protege is the only female player in the semi-final round! Go Betty!
The Women’s Division will also be held tomorrow, by the way, and it’s quickly becoming a very serious division, with 21 players competing in a preliminary round to select the 10 finalists!
Be sure to check the live stream tomorrow!