Korean teqball player Lee Jun-suk, second from left, poses with the medalists after winning the men’s singles final at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 20.YONHAP
NAGOYA, Japan — Korea’s teqball athletes put their livelihoods on hold and prepared for the Asian Games without access to the country’s national training center. A historic gold medal by Lee Jun-suk on Sunday may finally change that.
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) announced on Monday that it plans to draw up measures allowing national teqball team athletes to train at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon County, North Chungcheong.
Teqball made its debut as an official event at this year’s Asian Games. Lee defeated Iraq’s Jalil Mezher Alelayawi 2-0 in the men’s singles final to claim gold and became the sport’s inaugural champion in the Asian Games.
The sport combines elements of football and table tennis and bears similarities to jokgu (Korean foot volleyball).
The gold came as a surprise despite cruel training conditions. Lee could not train at Jincheon National Training Center because Korea’s teqball federation is not a regular member of the KSOC. He had to resort to renting a jokgu court in Icheon, Gyeonggi.
The KSOC considered allowing teqball athletes to train at the Jincheon National Training Center ahead of the Asian Games but was unable to secure training space.
Korea’s Lee Jun-suk sheds tears after winning gold in the men’s singles teqball final at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Higashi Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 20.NEWS1
Lee and the rest of the teqball national team instead prepared for the Games outside the center. The athletes put their livelihoods on hold to focus on training for the Asian Games and have expressed hopes of receiving systematic training at Jincheon in the future.
“I would like to congratulate and thank Lee and the national team for delivering Korea’s first Asian Games gold medal in teqball despite the difficult training conditions,” KSOC President Ryu Seung-min said after attending the final match. “We will come up with ways for the athletes to make use of the training environment at the Jincheon National Training Center so that teqball can continue to grow.”
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.
