On Saturday (26), South Korea won its first esports gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, in Japan. Lee Kwang-noh, Yeon Jea-gil and Bae Jae-min defeated the Japanese national team by 5-2 in the final of the fighting games category, held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname.
The competition brought together three different titles in a single medal event: Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV. Each member of the South Korean team competed in one of the games, a format also included in the official program of the Games.
Japan went ahead 2 times. Yeon lost the first Street Fighter 6 match to Kojiro Higuchi, while Bae was defeated by Daichi Nakayama in Tekken 8. Lee kept South Korea in the contest with wins in The King of Fighters XV.
With the overall score tied at 2-2, the South Koreans won the next three matches. Bae put the team ahead in Tekken 8, Yeon extended the lead in Street Fighter 6 and Bae closed out the final with another victory over Nakayama, securing the 5-2.
The gold also highlights an unusual format in multi-sport competitions: a single medal decided by combined performance in three different commercial games. In the Aichi-Nagoya program, esports feature 11 events, including League of Legends, Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, Gran Turismo 7 and eFootball, in addition to the combined fighting games competition.
Esports appear as an official event of the Asian Games for the second consecutive edition, after making their medal debut in Hangzhou. South Korea brought 36 athletes to nine of the 11 events scheduled in Aichi-Nagoya.
Before the gold in the fighting games, the country had already won silver with Kang Dong-shin in Puyo Puyo Champions and bronze with Kim Young-chan in Gran Turismo 7 at this edition.
