The South Korean PUBG Mobile national team bounced back in the final match of Day 1 of the finals, reaching the halfway mark in 6th place overall. Sitting in 8th place through Match 5, South Korea earned 13 points in Match 6 with a 2nd-place finish and 7 kills.

On September 28, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games esports PUBG Mobile finals held at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Japan, South Korea recorded a total of 38 points across six Day 1 matches, combining 15 placement points and 23 kill points.

In the finals, 12 national teams play six matches each on September 28 and 29, with final standings determined by cumulative points over a total of 12 matches. Without any eliminations, Day 1 scores carry over directly into Day 2.

South Korea placed 7th in the early stages, scoring 15 points across the first three matches. In Match 4, they added only 2 kills and 1 placement point, dropping to 8th place with a cumulative total of 18 points. In Match 5, they earned 7 points by combining 3 placement points and 4 kills. Although this increased their cumulative score to 25 points, they remained in 8th place overall. In that same match, Vietnam took a Chicken Dinner along with 17 points, widening the gap between South Korea and the medal positions to 25 points.

South Korea mounted a counterattack in the final match, Match 6. Surviving into the late stage, South Korea added 6 placement points for 2nd place and 7 kills to gain 13 points. This was the second-highest score of the match, behind Thailand, who scored 23 points with a Chicken Dinner and 13 kills.

Driven by their strong performance in the final match, South Korea overtook Japan and Uzbekistan to climb two spots from 8th to 6th. They also narrowed the gap to the medal positions from 25 points at the end of Match 5 to 17 points.

Meanwhile, Thailand overtook China in the final match to finish Day 1 in the lead with 75 points. China took 2nd place with 61 points, while Indonesia took 3rd with 55 points. Vietnam placed 4th with 51 points, and Pakistan held 5th place with 39 points, just one point ahead of South Korea.

The Chicken Dinners across all six matches on Day 1 were swept by the top four nations. Thailand and Vietnam won twice each, while China and Indonesia claimed one win each. Amid a growing gap between the top and middle teams, South Korea established a foothold for a chase in the final match.

South Korea will aim for a medal placement in the remaining six matches on September 29. While they are just 1 point behind 5th-place Pakistan, they remain 17 points behind bronze-medal position Indonesia. To enter medal contention, they will need performances like Match 6, securing both a high survival placement and multiple kills.