Team defeats Japan 5-2 in final across Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6 and The King of Fighters XV

South Korea's Lee Kwang-no competes against Japan's Sawada Akihito in the The King of Fighters XV final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games esports fighting game event at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
South Korea's Lee Kwang-no competes against Japan's Sawada Akihito in the The King of Fighters XV final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games esports fighting game event at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

South Korea claimed the first Asian Games gold medal in the esports fighting game category at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday.

Yeon Je-gil, Bae Jae-min and Lee Kwang-no defeated Japan 5-2 in the fighting game final at Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The esports fighting game event combined three titles — Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV — with competitors switching games each set. South Korea fielded Yeon in Street Fighter 6, Bae in Tekken 8 and Lee in The King of Fighters XV.

South Korea dropped the opening set in Street Fighter 6 to Japan, but Lee leveled the score in the second set with a commanding performance in The King of Fighters XV.

The two sides traded wins in a tightly contested series. Japan took the third set in Tekken 8, but South Korea struck back in the fourth set with a King of Fighters XV victory to level the match at 2-2. The Korean squad then won three consecutive sets to clinch the gold medal.

South Korea's esports haul at the Games now stands at one gold, one silver and one bronze. Kim Young-chan earned bronze in Gran Turismo 7 on Wednesday, finishing third in the final, while Kang Dong-shin took silver in Puyo Puyo Champions on Saturday.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com