▲ Athlete Yuki Kurihara
Japan's national esports representative Yuki Kurihara, 11, who broke the record for the youngest-ever Asian Games medalist by winning the Puyo Puyo event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, did not outwardly display much joy.
In fact, he remained so relaxed throughout, even yawning ahead of the final, that Japanese reporters asked him about it.
Kurihara secured the gold medal today (September 26) by decisively defeating South Korea's national representative Kang Dong-shin, 24, with a game score of 10-2 in the Puyo Puyo final held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Japan.
When asked about his thoughts on winning during the post-match official press conference, Kurihara said, "I am extremely happy," while adding, "It's about the 2nd or 3rd happiest moment of my life."
When asked when he felt the happiest, he replied, "Winning the tournament in February of this year and winning the league championship made me the happiest."
True to Kurihara's remarks, it was difficult to find any tension in the Puyo Puyo event at this competition.
This was because Kurihara's gaming skills showed a significant gap compared to the other players.
In the preliminary rounds, Kurihara decisively defeated every player except Kang Dong-shin with a score of 3-0, and also dominated the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Even Kang Dong-shin, who made it to the final, was no match for Kurihara.
When asked, "There was no change in your expression at the moment your victory was confirmed; what was the reason?" Kurihara answered, "I was a little shy so I couldn't express my joy, but inside I was extremely happy."
Also, in response to the question, "You yawned deeply right before the final match, weren't you nervous?" he answered, "I wasn't very nervous. Since athlete Kang Dong-shin is exceptionally skilled and strong in rapid attacks and massive chains, I couldn't predict how the match would unfold even with separate countermeasures. I went into it thinking I would respond as the match progressed."
Regarding his feelings on becoming the youngest medalist in history, he briefly said, "I am extremely happy."
Elementary school-appropriate answers followed.
Ahead of this tournament, Kurihara drew attention during a press conference when asked what he wanted to do with the prize money, saying, "I want to buy something like jewelry," and a related question came up again at today's press conference.
When asked, "Why do you want to buy jewelry?" he smiled and said, "I like shiny things. I especially like blue-toned jewelry."
When asked if he knew how much the prize money for this tournament was, he said, "I'm not sure."
According to the organizers, the winner receives 100,000 yen (approx. 870,000 won).
When asked how he prepared for this tournament, he said, "Normally I can only practice for about an hour because of cram school homework, but leading up to this tournament, I practiced for 3 hours a day."
Born on June 18, 2015, Kurihara is currently attending the 5th grade of elementary school in Japan. His favorite subject is social studies, his favorite food is eel, and his dream for the future is to be a train engineer.
With his victory at this tournament, Kurihara surpassed Indonesia's Nimas Bunga Cinta (who was 12 years old at the time), who won a bronze medal in the women's street skateboarding event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, to become the youngest Asian Games medalist in history.
Esports has been adopted as an official Asian Games event starting from the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
Puyo Puyo, an official event, is a game where blocks are stacked like Tetris and jelly characters of the same color are connected in groups of four or more to burst them.
The more characters of the same color you create, the more nuisance characters you can send to attack your opponent.
Some opinions suggest that it is inappropriate to include esports, especially certain games with simple controls like Puyo Puyo, in the category of sports and factor them into each country's medal competition.
Criticism has also been raised that the Asian Games are being mobilized for the marketing activities of certain game developers.
As esports has been adopted as an official Asian Games event, if a male South Korean athlete wins a gold medal, he becomes eligible for incorporation into arts and sports personnel under current regulations.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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