Esports to debut as an official medal event at Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou
This announcement comes almost two years after eSports made its debut in Asian Games as a demonstration sport. Let’s check everything we know around eSports and the latest move here.
It looks like eSports is set to become an official media event in the upcoming Asian Games event. This move will provide competitive gaming (another name for eSports) the much-needed approval from the conventional side of sports. This will also likely help eSports gain a wider acceptance in the coming years. A new report surfaced online outline some of the details around this move. The report also outlined some more information around the move including the possible eSports titles that will likely be part of the competition. This announcement comes almost two years after eSports made its debut in Asian Games as a demonstration sport. Let’s check everything we know around eSports and the latest move to turn it into a formal medal event here.
eSports to become a formal medal event in the next Asian Games, details
According to the information available, the next Asian Games event is scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, China in 2022. The Hangzhou organizing committee confirmed that it will make eSports an official medal event. Looking back at the 2018 demonstration, six eSports titles were part of the competition. These titles include League of Legends, StarCraft II, Clash Royale, Arena of Valor, Hearthstone, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018. A report from the South China Morning Post noted that China won two Gold medals at the demonstration event. Beyond this, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong won one Gold each.
It is worth noting that this move does not automatically convert eSports into a medal event in the Olympics. In fact, eSports was not part of the initial list of medal sports that the Olympic Council of Asia shared last year. This forced eSports supporters and stakeholders to fight to make eSports, a formal medal event. According to the report, Asian Electronic Sports Federation stated that it welcomes this move.
Talking about eSports and the Olympics, the future seems uncertain in the immediate future. The report stated that the International Olympics Committee believes that eSports holds “great potential”. However, eSports is still absent from the official medal event list for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Committee noted that the sports movement should focus on players and gamers when it comes to “other electronic games” instead of focusing on “specific games”.