“I thought China had shown about 80 per cent of their skills in the qualifiers, but they were actually hiding 80 per cent.”

Yoon Sang-hoon, head coach of the Korean national PUBG mobile team, lamented after finishing second in the Hangzhou Asian Games finals at the Hangzhou Esports Centre in Hangzhou, China, on Monday.

South Korea won the silver medal with a combined time of 50:25.039 over the four tracks, some five minutes and 48 seconds slower than first-placed China (44:36.943).

China won the gold medal last month, dramatically improving on the times they set in the round of 16 (49:11.78) and semi-finals (50:16.760) on the 29th and 30th respectively.

It was predicted that the Chinese would not show their true colours to minimise their power exposure, but when the lid was lifted, their performance far exceeded expectations.

South Korea, on the other hand, was not at its best on the day, performing worse than in the round of 16 (47:277) and qualifying (47:28.467).

“I definitely felt that China was a force to be reckoned with, but I didn’t expect it to be this good,” Yoon said, adding that it was difficult to gauge how much China had improved since the RDAG (Road to Asian Games).

He thanked the players for doing their best.

The team was forced to start training camps as soon as they finished Season 3 of the domestic league, PMPS 2023, earlier this month.

“The players showed the best of their abilities,” Yoon said, adding, “I’m very proud of my younger siblings who were disappointed with the silver medal, and I want to tell them that they worked hard.”

The players also expressed their disappointment, but consoled each other with memories of their first Taegeuk mark.

Captain Park ‘Fabian’ Sang-chul (D-Plus Kia) encouraged his teammates, saying, “We were able to win a medal because we got to know each other and improved a lot under the pressure and expectations of wearing the flag.”

Kwon ‘Vinnie’ Soon-bin (Deoksan Esports) said, “We were able to win the medal because we practised hard without sleeping. We practised so well together for a short month, so I’m proud of them even though we lost to China.”

Kim Dong-hyun ‘Tizzy’ (Nongshim Red Force) said, “We practised hard as a team, fighting with each other, passionately giving opinions and countering each other,” adding, “I’m really happy that we won a precious silver medal.” 파워볼게임