Gaming Esports Will Be An Official Medal Event At 2022 Asian Games
Organisers of the Asian Games that are expected to commence in Hangzhou, China in 2022 have announced that they will make esports as an official medal event, marking a historic moment in the field of competitive gaming.
This is one of the happiest, most monumental announcements for e-sports gamers around the world.
Organisers of the Asian Games that are expected to commence in Hangzhou, China in 2022 have announced that they will make esports as an official medal event, marking a historic moment in the field of competitive gaming.
Representational image: Antara News
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This was reported first by SCMP via a post by the Hangzhou organising committee which confirmed this through their official Weibo account on Monday.
In case you were wondering that such an inclusion happened all of a sudden, it actually wasn¡¯t. In the previous Asian Games that were held in Jakarta in 2018, esports was included as a demonstration sport, featuring competition between six popular games -- Arena of Valor, Hearthstone, League of Legends, StarCraft II, Clash Royale and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018. At this event, China claimed two gold medals while Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong took one gold medal each.
OCA's Asian Games director, Haider Farman, said in a statement, "I hope that electronic sports will add value to the Asian Games -- and I am sure it will in the future, during the Asian Games 2022 and even beyond that."
There have been several attempts in the past to bring esports to a wider platform however, several issues have prevented that from happening. However, with the pandemic taking over the world and esports surviving despite the pandemic made authorities look at it through a different lens.
Reuters
Eddy Lim, President of Indonesian Electronic Sports Association (IESPA), said in a statement, ¡°On behalf of IESPA and the Indonesian esports community, I am very happy for this development. I hope everything that was achieved in 2018 would provide a solid foundation base to make esports at the 2022 Asian Games a larger and grander event. We are more than happy to share all resources and ideas for our counterparts in Hangzhou should they require any, and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the esports scene.¡±
