Park Sang-hyun defeats Lee Young-ho 4-to-3 by completing comeback
Park Sang-hyun has defended his title on the final stage of the Google Play AfreecaTV StarCraft League, or ASL, Season 21, defeating Lee Young-ho four to three in a best-of-seven match to become the fourth player to repeat as an ASL champion.
Lee, better known as his in-game moniker Flash, specializes in playing the Terrans in StarCraft. Looking to become the first five-time ASL champion, he took the early 2-to-0 set score, but Park stormed back to tie the scoreboard at 2-to-2, making the game a best-of-three series.
Though Lee appeared to be inches away from winning it all after taking Game 5, Park took the last two games to be the last one standing at the end.
“I prepared for this match with my utmost efforts,” said Lee. “I believed that such efforts would be rewarded, and I was able to get the win because of that.”
The final match — held on a special stage set up at the 2026 PlayX4, one of the biggest gaming conventions in Korea at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province — drew some 1,500 attendees. According to ASL host and streamer Soop, the match's 500 official seats sold out within seconds of going on sale.
The replays and detailed results of the ASL Season 21 are available on Soop’s official streaming webpage for the StarCraft competition.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
