Korea defeats Japan to win gold in esports fighting games at Asian Games
The team event combined three titles: Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV. In the final, Korea beat the host country five sets to two.
From left: Yeon Je-gil, Bae Jae-min and Lee Kwang-no enter the arena for the esports fighting-game final at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Japan, on Sept. 26.YONHAP
Korea defeated Japan, the birthplace of fighting video games, to win an Asian Games gold medal in esports fighting games on Saturday.
In the final at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Japan, Korea beat the host country five sets to two.
The team event combined three titles: Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV. A coin toss determined the first game, and the losing side chose the next. All three franchises, popular since the 1990s, were created by Japanese companies, and Japan entered the final confident of victory.
Korea’s team comprised three players who won national qualifiers in their respective games: Yeon Je-gil, known as Dakorgi, of KT Rolster in Street Fighter; Bae Jae-min, known as Knee, of Kiwoom DRX in Tekken; and Lee Kwang-no, known as MadKOF, in King of Fighters.
Bae Jae-min of Korea competes against Daichi Nakayama of Japan at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Sept. 26.YONHAP
The turning point came in the sixth set. Japan chose Street Fighter, and Yeon’s Viper overpowered Kojiro Higuchi’s Guile, giving Korea a 4-2 lead.
With its back against the wall, Japan picked Tekken for the seventh set. Daichi Nakayama, known as Nobi, switched from his signature Steve to Dragunov, but Bae still took the first round.
Nakayama returned to Steve, but Bae won again to clinch the gold.
Lee won both of his matches in the final and went undefeated throughout the tournament.
The three players are veterans of the same generation. Lee, the only one without a professional team, has a day job since King of Fighters offers fewer international tournaments than the other two games. He welcomed the game’s first inclusion in the Asian Games.
Players who once honed their skills in neighborhood arcades now have gold medals around their necks.
After the semifinal, Yeon vowed to show that age is not a barrier in esports.
“If I perform at my best, the results will follow,” he said.
He added that Korea and Japan had long been rivals in fighting games.
“Japan is strong, and it’s where these games were born,” he said. “But this time, we’ll show that Korea is stronger.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
