17-yo Almaty native to participate at World Yo-Yo Champion in Tokyo

Almaty native Chingiz Alpyspayev, 17, is going to the World Yo-Yo Champion in Tokyo, Tengrinews reports.

 The competition is taking place from August 13 to 17. 

Alpyspayev has been playing yo-yo since 2011. Since then, the 17 y.o. from Kazakhstan has taken part in one World Championship and two European Championships.

"At the European championship in 2014, the organizers did not know where to put Kazakhstan. That is why I competed in the open division for non-European countries and took the 12th place. I ended up in the "death division", where the Japanese, the champions of the world were competing.

"In 2015, I competed in the general division and got to the final. I took the 13th place during the qualifying games out of 150 participants. In the final, I took the 23rd place," Alpyspayev said.

Alpyspayev is a two-time champion of Kazakhstan.

According to Alpyspayev, he is ready to pass all the qualifying games and get into the finals, but earning a medal place will be very difficult. At the moment, he is the only participant from Kazakhstan. According to Alpyspayev, lots of Kazakhstanis stopped playing yo-yo professionally since the large local championship in 2012. 

He uses a professional yo-yo that he ordered from the USA. He brought two more yo-yos from the 2014 Championship. One of the yo-yos was presented to Alpyspayev by a Japanese yo-yo maker. He bought the second one from his Czech acquaintance. To the upcoming Championship in Tokyo, Alpyspayev is going with his Japanese yo-yo.

At the moment, Alpyspayev trains 6 hours a day. He noted that in many countries yo-yo was not considered a toy any more, but had become a sport. The best sportsmen come from the USA and Japan. According to Alpyspayev, playing yo-yo has its own benefits including development of hand movement, coordination, eyesight and reaction.  

Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova