High school seniors Doyoung Kim and Yanen Li reunite as enemies at the Asian Games

High school seniors and juniors who dreamed the same dream and sweated together met again as players on opposing teams at the Asian Games.

The main characters are Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers), the leading hitter of the Korean national baseball team, and Li Yan'an (Korean name Lee Yeom-eun), an infielder of the Chinese national team.

Li Yan-en, who dreamed of becoming a baseball player as a child, came to Korea to study baseball when he was in elementary school, and returned to Korea again when he was in high school and played as a player at Gwangju Dongseong High School.

Doyoung Kim is Li Yanen's senior on the high school baseball team by two years, and the two wore the same uniform and sweated together for a year.

Afterwards, the paths of the two players diverged. Kim Do-young grew into the best player in the KBO League after being nominated by KIA, but Li Yan-en returned to China without being nominated as a professional.

However, Li Yanen did not give up his dream of becoming a baseball player.

He trained consistently in China, and was eventually selected as a member of the Chinese national team to compete in the Asian Games.

The two players faced each other in the same space wearing uniforms from different countries at the Asian Games.

Kim Do-young started as the number 3 designated hitter in the second game against China in the Super Round held at Toyohashi Citizen Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 26th, and led the team to a 9-2 victory by recording 1 hit in 4 at-bats, 1 RBI, and 2 runs.

Li Yan'en started as the 9th hitter and shortstop, but was unable to overcome the wall of the Korean mound and recorded no hits in 4 at-bats.

Regardless of the team's win or loss or individual performance, this tournament and this day's game were special for the two players.

Kim Do-young met with a reporter in the common reporting area after the game and said, "I received a call not long ago. He said he would be participating in this tournament as a member of the Chinese national team. I never thought we would meet again in the stadium like this, but it was amazing and nice to see."

He continued, "Yeom-eun was famous for being quick on her feet when she was in school," and "She also followed and liked me a lot because we had similar play styles. We did a lot of weight training together and became close friends. We were really close."

He also added, "I am proud that my junior represented one country in a big competition. It seems like he has grown well."

On this day, the joys and sorrows of the two players were mixed. Kim Do-young hit a ground ball toward the shortstop in the bottom of the first inning with one out and one on first base, and Li Yan-en made an error by failing to catch it.

Meanwhile, Kim Do-young ran all the way to second base and created a scoring opportunity.

Kim Do-young turned the game around by running past third base and toward home when the follow-up hitter, Moon Bo-kyung, grounded out to first base.

Kim Do-young looked back on the situation, saying, "I wasn't of much help to the team because my hitting wasn't very good. I wanted to help the team in some way. That's why I played without hesitation."

He continued, "I will definitely win the final against Japan tomorrow. I was really upset after losing to Japan in the first game of the super round yesterday. I will definitely get revenge."