Just to recap, here are the King of the Spin winners from past years.
2012: Darrell Mitchell
2013: Colin Wan
2014: Wong Wei Da
2015: Colin Wan
At the start, there were 28 participants that signed up for King of the Spin 2016:
1) Chris Lee
2) Chia Meng Leong
3) Brandon Sommer
4) Koh Yang Jie
5) Jeremy Tan
6) Muhd I'zzun
7) Thawhir Iqbal
8) Masanobu Iwata
9) Karthik Devaraj
10) Jia Wei
11) Kent Lim
12) Joseph Wong
13) Kai Wei
14) Wayn Ooi
15) Muhd Yasier
16) Darius Lim
17) Preston Lim
18) Hafiq Hairuddin
19) Colin Wan
20) MC Cheng
21) Brian Low
22) Chong Yichen
23) Sean Hung
24) Lim Aik Hwee
25) Zen Lim
26) Ryan
27) Ian Loh
28) Cheong Meng Wei
For the first round of battle, we did a quick warm-up round whereby all 28 competitors had to throw a long Sleeper and keep it spinning as long as possible whilst trying to prevent other competitors from stopping their yo-yos! It was a fun and exciting warm up and everyone was then ready for the Consistency Rounds!
First Elimination Consistency Round was to do the first few Spinworkx Challenge tricks (Gravity Pull, Forward Pass, Rock the Baby, Trapeze, Shoot the Moon) but the catch was they only had ONE attempt at the trick, and they are not able to test the yo-yo before attempting the trick. During this first round, quite a number of players managed to survive and move on to the next round without much difficulty, but the majority were cut off on the Trapeze and Shoot the Moon.
Competitors moving on were:
1) Jun Wei
2) Jeremy Tan
3) Chris Lee
4) Lim Aik Hwee
5) Joseph Wong
6) Chong Yichen
7) Thawhir Iqbal
8) Masanobu Iwata
9) Colin Wan
10) Sean Hung
Following this tough trick, the next Elimination Consistency Round was a weak-hand Challenge Round. To progress, competitors had to hit 3 different tricks on their weaker hand (Braintwister, Trapeze and Eli Hop). Clearly the 3A players had a slight edge for this challenge but even then, it wasnt a walk in the park. Weak-hand tricks are always fun to do to challenge yourself on how well you understand the trick, and this is exactly what went down. Following this, more players were eliminated. Sean was knocked-out on Weak-hand Trapeze and Jun Wei was eliminated on Weak-hand Eli Hops. Colin (2-time King of the Spin) was also eliminated on Weak-hand Eli Hops, and the remaining competitors breathed a sigh of relief at the elimination of one of their most formidable opponents!
From here on out, every trick that the competitors did, they only had ONE attempt!
Competitors remaining:
1) Jeremy Tan
2) Chris Lee
3) Lim Aik Hwee
4) Joseph Wong
5) Chong Yichen
6) Masanobu Iwata
7) Thawhir Iqbal
Next trick for the Consistency Challenge was yet another different style of play, Offstring! Trick was the Offstring Whip, yet another familiar trick from past years. This time, the Offstring Whip knocked out yet another 2 strong competitors, Joseph Wong and special guest, Masanobu Iwata.
Competitors remaining:
1) Jeremy Tan
2) Chris Lee
3) Lim Aik Hwee
4) Chong Yichen
5) Thawhir Iqbal
Next Elimination Consistency Round was the Fixed Axle Trapeze on a
Duncan Ignite. Tough trick that has recurred almost every year for King
of the Spin. After this trick, only 1 player was eliminated.
Competitors remaining:
1) Jeremy Tan
2) Chris Lee
3) Lim Aik Hwee
4) Chong Yichen
Down to the wire, the top 4 remains and the tricks arent getting any easier. The next trick was a classic trick from Hyper yoyo days. 30x Loop the Loop. Seeing how the remaining 4 players are all veterans in the freestyle contest scene, this trick shouldnt be too tough. Yet, this trick knocked out old-school player Yichen and Hypebeast Jeremy Tan, leaving the FINAL 2!
Finalists:
1) Chris Lee
2) Lim Aik Hwee
For the very last trick, it was going to be conducted in a 'Penalty-Shooutout' style. 5 tricks each player and the player who hits it the most times wins. The trick was to do a simple Trapeze, with a responsive yo-yo, blindfolded with Flyaway Dismount. Chris VS Aik Hwee.
First 4 Blindfolded Trapeze for both competitors, no problem. Both of them hit the trick clean and the score was 4-4.
But on the last Blindfolded Trapeze, Chris hit the trick but failed to catch following the Flyaway Dismount.
Aik Hwee, with nerves of steel, hit the trick clean as if it was just a regular stroll through the park. Real close final battle (5 - 4) between Chris and Aik Hwee. Yet another exciting King of the Spin finale this year.
And there you have it, the 2016 King of the Spin, yo-yo legend and superstar, Lim Aik Hwee!
Congratulations Aik Hwee for winning the King of the Spin contest, and thank you to all the competitors who took part. Hope
everyone had a fun time again!Till the next King of the Spin, have fun and have a superb 2017!
Photos by: Andrew Lin
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