Nagoya, Japan – Japan’s 11-year-old esports prodigy Yuki Kurihara stated he was “embarrassed” after successful Asian Video games gold on Saturday by thrashing a collection of opponents as much as thrice his age.
The bespectacled elementary faculty scholar, believed to be the youngest competitor on the Aichi Nagoya Video games, received the Puyo Puyo Champions remaining 10-2.
He’s the youngest athlete in Japan’s Asian Video games historical past.
Puyo Puyo Champions is a puzzle recreation the place gamers attempt to clear their display screen of coloured blobs by lining them up and popping them.
Trying unruffled all through, Kurihara waltzed into the gold medal match with a string of dazzling shows.
He crushed Thailand’s Tanarak Wongkitkun — a relative veteran at 28 — 10-1 within the semifinals to make sure not less than a silver medal.
He didn’t even smile after beating South Korea’s 24-year-old Kang Dongshin within the remaining, having gone down 1-0 early within the match.
“To be utterly trustworthy, I felt a bit embarrassed, so I couldn’t actually present my expressions or change my face a lot,” he defined.
Standing on the rostrum, he bowed barely as he acquired his gold medal and gave a small wave to the sector.
“I’m actually completely happy,” he stated. “The gold medal is de facto lovely, shiny and heavy.
“Additionally, the plush toy is tremendous cute, and it’s cool that it’s gold-colored too.”
Kurihara began taking part in Puyo Puyo in his first yr of elementary faculty and shortly began competing and successful in tournaments.
He obtained his professional license in April and usually beats adults.
“It’s exhausting having to stability it with faculty and cram faculty, however it’s actually enjoyable,” he stated forward of the Video games.
There are not any publicly obtainable data of the youngest medalists within the historical past of the Asian Video games, which had been first contested in 1951.
However Indonesia’s Bunga Nyimas received bronze in girls’s skateboarding at age 12 in Jakarta in 2018.
Cui Chenxi, 13, received Video games gold when she triumphed within the girls’s avenue skateboarding occasion three years in the past in Hangzhou.
