Kang Dong-shin, who lost to Kurihara, expressed his thoughts, saying, ‘I didn’t feel any pressure playing against an elementary school student.’

Kurihara is a player who has beaten all the great players in Japan... Your skills are amazing

When asked whether Kurihara's expression did not change even after winning the gold medal, she said, "I was a little embarrassed."

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Kyung-yoon = Kang Dong-shin (24), who lost to Japanese elementary school student Yuki Kurihara and won the silver medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Esports Puyo Puyo Champions, said, "It was not a big burden to face an elementary school student."

Unfortunately, he was unable to win the gold medal as he lost 2-10 to Kurihara in the finals of the e-sports 'Puyo Puyo Champions' held at Sky Expo in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 26th.

Kang Dong-shin, who we met in the common press area after the game, said, "Kurihara is a player who beat all the players with incredible experience in Japan and became a member of the national team. I thought he would have tremendous skills, but he was as great as I expected. He is as expected of the best player in the world."

He continued, “I was in good condition and didn’t feel nervous,” adding, “It’s unfortunate that I was a little unlucky.”

Kang Dong-shin recorded 4 wins and 1 loss in Group A of the group stage, defeated India's Paritosh 5-0 in the quarterfinals, and defeated Taiwan's Guo Ziang 10-3 in the semifinals to advance to the finals.

Meanwhile, Kurihara said in the joint coverage area, "I met the strong opponent I wanted to face the most in the finals. I went into the game thinking that I would be really happy if I won here, and I'm really happy because I think I won well."

When asked whether his expression did not change much after confirming the gold medal, he said, "Honestly, I was a little embarrassed," making the reporters laugh.

Kurihara, born on June 18, 2015, became the youngest medalist in Asian Games history by winning this competition, beating Indonesia's Nyimas Bunga Cinta (12 years old at the time), who won the bronze medal in the women's street skateboarding at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

Esports was adopted as an official event in the Asian Games starting from the 2022 Hangzhou Games, and Puyo Puyo is a game where you stack blocks like Tetris and connect four or more jelly characters of the same color to pop them.

The more characters you create of the same color, the more you can attack by sending interfering characters to your opponent.