Eleven-year-old Kurihara wins esports gold

NAGOYA, Japan (AP):

He’s only 11, loves eel as his training food, and found his sporting niche back in kindergarten. His sport is esports.

Meet Yuki Kurihara, the Japanese elementary school student who lit up the Asian Games by defeating South Korea’s Kang Dongshin 10-2 yesterday in the final of the Puyo Puyo Champions puzzle game.

Kurihara had earlier swept past Thailand’s Tanarak Wongkitikun 10-1 in the semifinals. Tanarak, at 28, was a relative veteran compared to the young champion.

“I’m really happy,” Kurihara said. “The gold medal is really beautiful, shiny and heavy.” He added that he loved the mascot doll given to winners: “The plush toy is super cute, and it’s cool that it is gold-coloured too.”

Kang, gracious in defeat, praised the boy prodigy. “It’s obvious that my opponent was skilled and above my level. His technical ability and accuracy are incredible,” he said.

Kurihara is believed to be the youngest-ever gold medallist in Asian Games history, dating back to 1951 in New Delhi, India. He is certainly the youngest at these Games. Japanese media report he trains eight hours daily while still keeping up his school grades.

Esports debuted at the Asian Games three years ago in Hangzhou, China, where tickets were sold by lottery due to overwhelming demand. The discipline has quickly become a crowd favourite in Japan.

Youth continues to shine at these Games. Kamus Wong, 12, is competing for Hong Kong in skateboarding, while 13-year-old Yu Zidi of China has already won three gold medals in swimming. And at 17, Japanese swimmer Shin Ohashi set a world record on Thursday in the 200-metre breaststroke.