Eel-powered Japanese esports whizz kid chases Asian Games history at home tournament

Yuki Kurihara, 11, will become country’s youngest competitor at competition next month playing puzzle game Puyo Puyo Champions

Yuki Kurihara will become Japan’s youngest competitor in Asian Games history next month and the 11-year-old esports whizz kid wants to be the competition’s youngest ever medallist too.

The bespectacled primary school student joined his Japan teammates this week for an inauguration ceremony ahead of their home Games, which take place in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area from September 19 to October 4.

Kurihara will compete in esports event Puyo Puyo Champions, a puzzle game where players try to clear their screen of coloured blobs by lining them up and popping them.

He is aiming to outshine a previous child medallist in Indonesia’s Bunga Nyimas, who won bronze in women’s skateboarding aged 12 in Jakarta in 2018.

“I want to win so that I can bring a gold medal back for Team Japan,” Kurihara said.

The Asian Games, which were first contested in 1951, have in recent editions witnessed numerous school-age athletes.