Korean B-girl Yell gains confidence that she can 'catch up with world-class players' despite being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games

"이 페이스를 계속 유지하면 무언가 이룰 수 있겠다는 생각이 들었어요. 저의 30대가 기대됩니다."

Yell (Kim Ye-ri, 26), a representative Korean B-girl who breaks her own limitations through dance, will return home with a harvest as valuable as a medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

It is confidence in one's own skills and direction to move forward.

Yeri Kim ended her schedule by losing to China's powerhouse 671 (Liu Qingyi) in the quarterfinals of the breaking women's division of this tournament.

He expressed his thoughts after completing the competition, saying, "I am disappointed about the result because I practiced and improved my body, but I have a firm belief that I can catch up with world-class players if I improve a little more."

For Kim Yeri, who won the 2021 national team selection competition and became the first Taegeuk mark B-girl, this competition is the second Asian Games following the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

671, the opponent in the quarterfinals, is the ace of Asia's breaking powerhouse China and the bronze medalist of this tournament.

Yeri Kim said, “I had nothing to lose because I was in the position of a challenger facing a player with a huge reputation,” and added, “I faced 671 twice before, and I went into it with the mindset of showing much better skills than before.”

He added, "It is not easy to steal the judges' votes against a strong player, but the two votes I got this time mean a lot to me. Before that, most of the time, there was a tendency to receive 0 votes or a loss of votes to the strong player, but this victory gave me hope."

For him, who was diagnosed as hearing impaired at a young age and wears a hearing aid, the limitations of sound were just a part of him and never became a limit to his skills.

When the beat of the music was difficult to hear, she counted the beats internally, and when the music was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd, she read the other person's movements and continued dancing without wavering.

I started breaking in my second year of middle school and have been constantly challenging myself, including winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Buenos Aires Summer Youth Olympics, but I also had quite a few worries in front of the ever-changing wall of the world stage.

Yeri Kim confessed, “In Korea, I started early, but in places like China, players five or six years younger than me were competing, so I felt impatient.”

However, I soon regained my composure after seeing my seasoned senior.

He said emphatically, "When I appear at international competitions, there are mostly new faces instead of those who were active in the past, but I think that if I look long-term like my brother Hongten (Kim Hong-yeol) and work hard consistently, I have a lot of potential."

The reason for overcoming the harsh environment to stand in front of the public is also clear.

This is because I want to pave the way for my juniors in a reality where breaking dancers have to make a living by performing in school auditoriums or apartment playgrounds or working two jobs.

Yeri Kim said, "I am participating in the international competition with the hope that young people will continue to rise to the scene," and pledged, "As it is a big stage watched not only by dance fans but also by the public, I will continue to challenge without stopping."