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At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, fifth-grader Yuki Kurihara (11), a Tokyo resident, will compete as the youngest member of Japan’s national team in “Puyo Puyo eSports.” A gold medal contender with international tournament wins under his belt, he reportedly plays for no more than two hours a day, balancing the game with studying for middle school entrance exams. After reports detailed how he started playing at Christmas during his final year of kindergarten and grew skilled enough to pull off chains of up to 19, 5channel’s Geinou/Sports Express+ board lit up with both the perennial “can games really be called a sport” debate and comments praising the child’s effort.
At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, fifth-grader Yuki Kurihara (11) — competing under the gamer tag “Yuki,” a Tokyo resident — will take part in the eSports puzzle title “Puyo Puyo eSports.” Though he’s the youngest member of Japan’s delegation, he’s a gold medal contender with an international tournament win to his name. Surprisingly, though, he plays for at most two hours a day, juggling practice with studying for his middle school entrance exams. His dream for the future: to become “a cram school teacher or a train driver.”
He started playing Puyo Puyo at Christmas during his final year of kindergarten. With so much time spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, his mother picked up the game “Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.” He later bought the competitive version of the game at a tournament venue where his idol, pro gamer “Tomo-kun,” was competing. After placing third at a national tournament during spring break just before starting second grade, he began taking competitive play seriously.
His specialty is the “big chain” technique — clearing a huge string of falling “Puyo” blocks in one go — and he’s pulled off chains as long as 19. There was a period when he studied strategy from YouTube videos, but since becoming a top player he says he no longer watches videos or analyzes matches. “I don’t change my play style — I just think it through in my head as I go.” As his skills have rapidly improved, he’s come to trust his own instincts.
Source: chunichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
I don't think that counts as a sport lol
Since it got dropped from the Olympics
it's probably already peaked
It's the opposite — Saudi Arabia is running its own eSports World Cup and has basically abandoned the Olympics angle.
That was hashed out to death in the thread about pulling out of the Olympics, so why are you casually lying about it?
Compile went under, so is it Bandai or someone now?
Such a waste — it was a cash cow, but they got too full of themselves…
Oh really? Sega, huh — didn't expect that
Titles that get official eSports status should be required to have cross-play.
Sept 23 (Wed, holiday): eFootball™ — semifinals through finals
Sept 24 (Thu): Naraka: Bladepoint — semifinals through finals
Sept 25 (Fri): Fighting Game Team Battle — finals tournament through semifinals
Sept 26 (Sat): Puyo Puyo eSports — finals tournament through finals
Sept 26 (Sat): Fighting Game Team Battle — finals
Sept 27 (Sun): Pokémon UNITE — finals tournament through finals
Sept 28 (Mon): Honor of Kings — finals tournament through finals
Sept 29 (Tue): PUBG Mobile — finals
Sept 30 (Wed): Identity V — finals tournament through finals
Oct 1 (Thu): Mobile Legends: Bang Bang — finals
Oct 2 (Fri): League of Legends — finals
Also, the fighting games are Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and KOF
No Mario Kart or Bomberman?
As someone who loves games myself, I honestly wish some of those guys would just disappear.
Isn't there a prince over there who's a gamer?
No question Japan isn't excited about this at all
I want him to win in the elementary-school world and pass the torch to the next generation.
Having dumb adults competing right alongside kids is the ugliest thing.
Back in school my friends and I used to play until someone hit 100 wins, and I'd still see Puyo Puyo blocks right up until I fell asleep lol
Seriously, let's stop calling games "sports" already
Japan's probably the only place still saying this
It's honestly kind of pathetic
I find it pathetic that you're still saying that
English-speaking countries call it "esports" too, you know
Well, learn something new every day lol
I was really into it back in middle school — and I'm 50 now
48 here, same
You'd think that scene would be full of players who've been grinding for years
I guess in the end you just can't beat a kid's reflexes
Background and points of debate
“Puyo Puyo eSports” is an official event at the Asian Games and will also be held at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games. Rights to the franchise passed on after original developer Compile went bankrupt and are now held by Sega, a point some commenters asked about directly. The thread split over whether games can really be called a “sport” (competitive event), with skeptics squaring off against those countering that “esports” is standard terminology even in English-speaking countries. At the same time, plenty of commenters expressed genuine surprise that an 11-year-old had taught himself the high-difficulty technique of chains up to 19 long while also balancing exam prep. Note: posts mocking opponents’ appearance or making baseless personal attacks on specific players have been omitted from this article.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and summaries of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Asian Games] Puyo Puyo eSports Gold Medal Hopeful Is a 5th-Grader Who “Loves Studying Too” — Plays at Most 2 Hours a Day.”
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