Lee Jun-suk reaches men's teqball final
Lee Jun-suk of South Korea returns the ball to Alisa Phomsouliya of Laos during their men's singles Group B match in the teqball competition at the Asian Games at Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, Thursday. Yonhap
NAGOYA, Japan — South Korea's Lee Jun-suk reached the final of the men's singles in teqball at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Saturday, securing at least a silver medal in the sport that made its debut at the continental multisport event.
Lee was leading 12-10 and 3-2 against Zaid Eidan of Kuwait in the men's teqball semifinals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center in northern Nagoya, Japan, when the opponent retired due to a thigh injury.
He will face Ali Jalil Mezher Alelayawi of Iraq in the final slated for Sunday.
Lee has been undefeated since the preliminary round. After winning all five matches in the group round, Lee beat Kudaiberdi Abdilazizovich Aidarbekov of Kyrgyzstan 2-0 (12-2, 12-1) in the quarterfinals.
In the first set, Lee came back from an early 4-0 deficit. Thanks to his kicks and the opponent's errors, he evened the score and extended the lead to 10-6. Despite losing some points, Lee successfully held off Eidan's rally and closed out the set 12-10.
When Lee was leading 3-2 in the second set, Eidan retired from the match.
Invented in Hungary in 2014, teqball combines elements of football, table tennis, freestyle skills and sepaktakraw. It is played on a curved table, with players allowed to hit the ball with any part of their body except the hands and arms.
In singles matches, a player must return the ball with a maximum of three touches. Each set is played until a player reaches 12 points.
Teqball was added to the Asian Games competition list for the first time as the sport has attracted athletes with a football background, and professional footballers have been seen playing teqball during training sessions.