Thrilling Comeback Victory... "No Surprises" as South Korea Wins Second Consecutive Gold

[Anchor]

The League of Legends esports national team defeated Taiwan in the finals to achieve its second consecutive Asian Games title. With a flawless championship run—not dropping a single set from the preliminaries onward—they once again showcased their status as the world's best.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the story from Nagoya.

[Reporter]

Two hours before the finals began, endless lines of fans from various Asian countries filled the venue entrance to cheer for our players.

[Chinese Fan: Flight tickets from China to Japan were expensive, it cost 2 million won.]

[Japanese Fan: Faker, Keria, we love you, fighting!]

Keeping the packed stadium in suspense, the final match started 40 minutes later than scheduled due to a system glitch. Our players thrilled the fans with breathtaking victories by staging comebacks in every set.

Although they fell behind Taiwan until the middle of the first set, they pulled off a comeback driven by the performances of Zeka (Kim Geon-woo) and Zeus (Choi Woo-je). In the second set, Gumayusi (Lee Min-hyung) overturned the game in a single stroke with a triple kill.

When the opponent's base was destroyed in the final third set and the victory was confirmed, the players embraced and savored the joy.

Securing a 3-0 sweep, the national team claimed the gold medal for the second consecutive time following the previous Hangzhou tournament, displaying flawless performance without dropping a single set across five matches in this competition.

[Kim Geon-woo (Zeka) / LoL National Team: I feel truly honored to wear the Taegeuk mark and hang a gold medal around my neck. Because I played with the absolute mindset that we had to win, I was able to maintain my concentration until the end, and I think it turned out really well.]

[Lee Sang-hyeok (Faker) / LoL National Team: I believe the journey, experiences, and processes we went through running toward the gold medal were very meaningful.]

To the rumors regarding the exclusion of esports from the Asian Games that surfaced during the competition and the persistent negative perceptions surrounding esports, the players responded as follows:

[Lee Min-hyung (Gumayusi) / LoL National Team: I think it can become a sport if there are cheering spectators, players working hard amidst that, and emotions and stories.]

There were no surprises.

Led by Faker, our national team boasted the world's top-tier skills, gracing the grand finale of this tournament in spectacular fashion.

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Ha Jee-min, the living legend of South Korean sailing, finished first in the men's dinghy event, washing away the disappointment of his silver medal at the previous Hangzhou tournament to capture his fourth career Asian Games gold medal.

(Reported by Choi Dae-woong | Video by Park Chun-bae | Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.