Seoul, Korea, September 4, 2026: With teqball set to make its Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya this month, South Korean athletes will try to bring home multiple medals in what is still largely an unfamiliar sport back home, Yonhap News reports.
First played in Hungary in 2014, teqball is one of the world's fastest-growing sports, requiring a high level of football skills and ball control in a game played on a curved table tennis-sized table.
The International Teqball Federation, established in 2017, has more than 150 member federations.
Although there are five teqball events in the 20th Asian Games - women’s and men’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles - each National Olympic Committee can only participate in up to three events.
Korea will compete in men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles in Nagoya, and the goal is to reach the podium in every event.
The head coach, Lee Yong-seop, worked as a football coach for about two decades before joining the Korea Teqball Association as its secretary-general and eventually taking over the national team.
According to Lee, his athletes quit their day jobs to focus on preparing for the Asian Games.
"These athletes are all very desperate," coach Lee said. "They are really motivated to do well at the Asian Games not for their individual glory but to promote teqball and inspire others to pick up the sport."
Coach Lee said his athletes have often asked him what they are supposed to do after the Asian Games, now they have quit their jobs.
"I have to remind them that we represent the first generation of the sport for Korea and we are writing new history," the coach said.
"I believe there will be a path for them to coach the sport and at least to stay involved in the sport, regardless of how they do at the Asian Games. We are paving the way together."
The Asian Games opening ceremony is on September 19, but teqball starts two days earlier with preliminaries. All five finals will take place on Sunday, September 20 at Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center in Nagoya.