The 2 Million-Won Table Tennis Table His Mother Took Out a Loan to Buy... Lee Jun-seok’s Hard-Earned Gold [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News] Driven solely by his desire to represent South Korea, a 27-year-old man threw away his employee ID from a major corporation without hesitation and eventually stood atop Asia. This is the movie-like turnaround story of Lee Jun-seok, South Korea’s national-team captain who went from being released by a K4 League soccer team to becoming the inaugural champion of the fledgling sport of Teqball.
On the 20th, Lee Jun-seok defeated Iraq’s formidable Ali Jalil Mezher Alelayawi 2-0 in the men’s singles final of Teqball at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Higashi Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, to claim the gold medal. It was the moment his childhood dream of representing his country blossomed brilliantly on a curved table measuring one 1,400th the size of a soccer field.
His journey was a series of comebacks. He dreamed of playing for the national soccer team as a child, but at 21, he encountered the harsh realities of the sport and had to hang up his uniform after playing in the K4 League, the equivalent of the fourth division. He switched to foot volleyball, or jokgu, in an attempt to revive his career, but that proved difficult as well. Then, as if by fate, he discovered Teqball, a new sport that originated in Hungary in 2012.

The price of his challenge was steep. Working as a contract production employee at a major corporation to make a living, he resigned in February without looking back after learning that Teqball had been selected as an official event at the Nagoya Asian Games. In the difficult conditions facing a little-known sport, where he was not even allowed to enter the Jincheon National Training Center, his family became his support. Lee Jun-seok said, “Despite our limited means, my mother spent the considerable sum of 2 million won to buy me a table for training,” and credited her support with giving him the strength to devote himself to training.
His determination to win a medal crossed national borders. With woefully inadequate training infrastructure, he spent his savings and flew to Hungary, the home of Teqball, on a mission. He contacted local players one by one through social media (SNS), receiving improvised, from-scratch coaching as he honed his skills. What drove him was a desperate desire to create a foundation where fellow athletes who, like him, had given up their livelihoods to train could practice without worry.

After winning every group-stage match without dropping a set and advancing to the semifinals following his opponent’s withdrawal, Lee Jun-seok entered the final on a dominant run. His fighting spirit was formidable. He fell behind by three straight points early in the first set amid the tension, but his trademark mental toughness and unorthodox play quickly turned the momentum around, completing a 2-0 sweep. The former K4 League player who had overcome countless setbacks etched his name forever in South Korean sports history as the first Teqball gold medalist.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter