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’s most accomplished competitive yo-yo players.

But it is not so simple as playing “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 in the 1A division, using a single unresponsive yo-yo – which does not return to the hand with a tug – 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.

“The judging criteria are very similar to figure skating, actually,” he explains. “It’s 60 per cent technical execution – basically the amount of tricks you do – and 40 per cent musicality. That’s your performance: how well you synchronise with the music, how clean your tricks are, your body use, your stage use – how you manoeuvre on stage.”

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.