MEN’S LEAD
The final medal to be awarded at the Asian Games 2026 was the men’s Lead and Japan’s Neo Suzuki was the man to give the home fans a golden goodbye to the competition.
The last climber to come out onto the wall as the top qualifier in the semi-final, Suzuki climbed to hold 40 but fell reaching for the next move giving him the plus, but he may have already known he had won as the crowd erupted as he moved past hold 38.
There were three climbers on hold 38 that the crowd was shouting about, but only one made the plus move. That climber was Suzuki’s teammate Satone Yoshida, who with 38+ ensured two Japanese climbers on the podium.
South Korea’s Dohyun Lee scored 38 and so did China’s Yufei Pan, but with countback coming into play, Lee took the bronze medal, and Pan was nudged off the podium in fourth. It could have different though as Pan made a few moves more but was judged to have moved past the last clipping position so was downgraded.
Indonesia’s Putra Tri Ramadani was fifth on hold 32+ with Pan’s teammate Junzhe Hu sixth on hold 28+. Seventh went to South Korea’s Hyunseung Noh with 26+, eighth was Indonesia’s Raviandi Ramadhan, and due to a three-way tie in the semi-final, the men had nine finalists with Thailand’s Auswin Aueareechit ninth on hold 21+.