Nagoya: South Korea's Lee Jun-suk triumphed in the men's singles preliminary round as teqball made its Asian Games debut in central Japan on Thursday. Lee won all five of his matches, showcasing his skills at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center.
According to Yonhap News Agency, teqball, a sport that combines elements of football, table tennis, freestyle skills, and sepaktakraw, was invented in Hungary in 2014. It is played on a curved table where players are allowed to use any part of their body except their hands and arms to hit the ball. In this dynamic sport, a player must return the ball with a maximum of three touches, while in doubles, teammates need to pass the ball to each other at least once.
Lee, 27, began his winning streak by defeating Alisa Phomsouliya of Laos 2-0 (12-1, 12-0) in the opening Group B match. He continued his dominance by overcoming Prince Agustin of the Philippines 2-0 (12-5, 12-6), Yoga Ardika Putra of Indonesia 2-0 (12-1, 12-3), and Ba Truong Giang of Vietnam 2-0 (12-8, 12-4). Lee concluded his group stage matches with a victory against Akinori Wase of Japan 2-0 (12-5, 12-9), securing an undefeated record.
In this tournament, Group A consisted of five players, while Group B had six players, with the top four from each group advancing to the quarterfinals scheduled for later in the day. Lee expressed his initial expectations saying, "I thought I could win a lot of matches as long as I executed my plans and didn't get too nervous. But I never thought I could win all five matches without dropping one game."
The atmosphere was electric as Lee played before a crowd of enthusiastic South Korean fans in the 400-seat arena. His match against Wase saw spirited chants from both South Korean and Japanese supporters. Lee admitted feeling motivated for this particular match, noting, "Of course, anytime we go up against a Japanese athlete, it carries that extra weight. At the start of the match, I told myself I could not afford to lose this one."
The semifinal matches are set for Saturday, with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on Sunday. Teqball has attracted athletes from football and sepaktakraw backgrounds, with South Korea making its international debut in the sport in 2019. Lee himself has a football background, having reached the fourth division in South Korea at age 21.