Higuchi and Knee Lead Japan and Korea Into Asian Games Final

Esports within the fighting game community is a hot-button issue for many who consider it a corruptor of the soul of the grassroots community. However, it cannot be denied that it has slowly become more mainstream.

This is partly evidenced by the fact that there is an esports category at the ongoing Asian Games, which are being hosted in Japan, specifically in Aichi and Nagoya.

Among the many games featured, there is also a category for fighting games. However, unlike other Asian Games events, which specifically have categories for individual games, the 2026 Asian Games have lumped fighting games into one category. This category is made up of Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

This means teams participating in the event are made up of three representatives who each specialize in one of the games and play together as a team. For Team Japan and Team Korea, who have both advanced to the finals, the lineups are:

Team Japan
Street Fighter 6 - Higuchi
CotW - SCORE
Tekken 8 - Nobi

Team Korea
Street Fighter 6 - DakCorgi
CotW - MadKof
Tekken 8 - Knee

Japan held preliminary tournaments in which the winners got to represent the country.

Both teams finished top of their respective groups and made it into the single-elimination top eight, where Japan defeated Bahrain and Hong Kong to make the finals, while Korea defeated everyone in their way, including Chinese Taipei, to also book a spot in the finals, which will take place tomorrow.

Whoever wins will take home the gold medal.

Catching a stream is quite difficult, with no single entity holding the streaming rights worldwide. However, Team Japan can be caught on the official TBS Sports YouTube channel.