The 2016 Asia Pacific Yo-yo Championships was held last week in Singapore, and with yet another huge player turnout, we got a couple of nice surprises among the results!

1A

While we had the usual group of players among the top finishers in 1A, this year we have a brand new face topping the chart! Shion Araya, who finished second at last year’s World Yo-yo Contest, was the winner, with a solid and fast-paced routine, beating AP veterans Marcus Koh, who finished second and took home the Singapore Champion title, and Ahmad Kharisma, arguably the most consistent of the AP contestants.

Last year’s winner, Iori Yamaki, was absent, while veteran contenders Hiroyuki Suzuki and Christopher Chia finished in 6th and 15th place, respectively.

Check out Shion’s winning freestyle and full results from finals below:

1. Shion Araya
2. Marcus Koh
3. Ahmad Kharisma
4. Dong Ruida
5. Toya Kobayashi
6. Hiroyuki Suzuki
7. Nuttanan Runagpanich
8. Amirrul Rahman
9. Kazuya Murata
10. Shinya Kido
11. Garbkamol Limangkul
12. Arif Ramadhan
13. Sun Jiahao
14. Chiang Shan Cheng
15. Christopher Chia
16. Hua Phu Nguyen
17. Ian Loh
18. Ikumi Kato
19. Panyapat Ananutamapap
20. Brandon Vu
21. Thawhir Iqbal
22. Hu Ruiheng
23. Mohd Omarail Hafizzudin
24. Kuo Tzu Wei

2A

The biggest surprise of the contest was in the 2A division, where veteran Liu Man Ki, from Hong Kong, beat 13-time World Champion Shinji Saito, thanks to a major deduction from the latter that was just enough to switch their final rankings. An impressive feat nonetheless!

1. Liu Man Ki
2. Shinji Saito
3. Arata Imai
4. Tomoyuki Kaneko
5. Shuhei Kanai
6. Yuki Takami
7. Chan Chun Hay
8. Wasakorn Lattilertwit
9. Shunsuke Kawakami
10. Yoon Jong Ki
11. Jun Taniguchi
12. Tran Minh Hieu
13. Kyle Capiral

3A

3A had fewer big names compared to the other divisions, and Taiichiro Higashi had no trouble securing his second title in a row.

1. Taiichiro Higashi
2. Yuuki Kurumisawa
3. Thawhir Iqbal
4. Chen Junhao
5. John Eric Galicha
6. Teruo Kameya
7. Kuo Yung Chih
8. Yu Huiwon
9. Li Tiancheng
10. Winalda Aryudha
11. Shuji Kinoshita
12. David Lau

4A

Offstring at this year’s AP was nothing short of fantastic! Local legend Lim Aik Hwee took home his fourth AP title 10 years after his first, and after no less than 4 years of competition hiatus!

He was closely followed by Tsubasa Onishi and his usual and always entertaining acrobatics, and Tomohiko Zanka, who got his career’s best result yet!

1. Lim Aik Hwee
2. Tsubasa Onishi
3. Tomohiko Zanka
4. Kuo Po Han
5. Jeon Ji Hwan
6. Sean Hung
7. Pornpinit Sanprasert
8. Chan Chun Hin
9. Dong Ruida
10. Jeong Yong Chan
11. Osshe Louis
12. Nguyen Hoang Tri Hai
13. Lee Min Woo
14. Wesley Lim
15. Mohd Khairsyah
16. Brandon Vu

5A

Hideo Ishida had no trouble winning the counterweight division and his first AP title. His “modern old-school” 5A is always a pleasure to watch.

1. Hideo Ishida
2. Tran Quoc Huy
3. Ian Loh
4. Naoya Takeuchi
5. Kuo Chun Yu
6. Wayne Xiu
7. Zhu Sheng Yong
8. Yuttana Sukhumalchatsombat
9. Azim Jameel
10. Teruo Kameya
11. Chong Yichen
12. Marcus Koh

Many thanks to organizers of the Asia Pacific Yo-yo Contest for the official videos, and of course for bringing us yet another fantastic event! Check out their YouTube channel for more videos from the contest!