An 11-year-old Japanese esports player, Yuki Kurihara, won a gold medal in the Puyo Puyo Champions final at the Asian Games, defeating opponents who were almost three times his age. Kurihara, the youngest competitor at the Games, secured the victory with a score of 10-2, becoming Japan's youngest ever medalist. Puyo Puyo is a puzzle game similar to Tetris, developed in Japan, where players attempt to clear their screen of colored blobs by aligning them and popping them, creating chain reactions referred to as 'dairensa'. The game requires quick thinking and precise hand-eye coordination, and it has gained a significant following in competitive gaming circles. Kurihara defeated a 28-year-old Thai player, Tanarak Wongkitkun, with a score of 10-1 to reach the final, before defeating South Korea's 24-year-old Kang Dongshin. He described feeling "embarrassed" after his victories and said he couldn't show much expression or change his face much. However, he expressed happiness, noting that the gold medal is "really beautiful, shiny and heavy." Esports has been included in the previous two editions of the Asian Games, with Puyo Puyo being one of 11 medal events this year. Kurihara secured his place on the Japan team at just 10 years old and said he eats eel to prepare for competitions. He mentioned that balancing school and cram school with his esports training is challenging but that it is "really fun." The Asian Games are being held in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area from 19 September to 4 October. There are no publicly available records of the youngest medalists in Games history, but Indonesia's Bunga Nyimas won a bronze medal in women's skateboarding at the age of 12 in 2018.