Lee Jun-seok wins first Asian Games teqball gold — Korea Herald
South Korea’s Lee Jun-seok became the first Asian Games champion in men’s singles teqball, winning the final in Nagoya, Japan. In the decisive match, he defeated Iraq’s Ali Jalil Mezher Alalawi 2-0 — 12:11, 12:5.
As reported by Korea Herald, the 27-year-old Lee went undefeated in the tournament, winning all five group-stage matches and two playoff encounters. The award became South Korea’s third gold medal at the current Asian Games.
A tense first set
At the start of the final, Lee trailed 1:4 and later levelled the score, but the Iraqi athlete pulled ahead to 9:5. The South Korean then scored six consecutive points to take an 11:9 lead. Alalawi tied the score at 11:11, but Lee claimed the decisive 12th point.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
In the second set, Lee quickly built a 9:2 lead and saw out the match. The gold-medal rally ended with an unsuccessful return of the ball by Alalawi.
A new event on the program
Teqball was included in the Asian Games program for the first time. The sport, created in Hungary in 2014, combines elements of football, table tennis, freestyle and sepak takraw. Matches are played on a curved table, and players may touch the ball with any part of the body except their hands. No more than three touches are allowed to return the ball, while the same body part cannot be used twice in a row.
Earlier, Lee Jun-seok and his men’s doubles partner Lee Tae-bin lost 0:2 to Alalawi and Abdulrahman Ahmed Radhi in the quarterfinals.
