eSports Selected as an Official Sport for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games

The esports League of Legends match between Korea and China, selected as a demonstration event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, is taking place.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] eSports will be included as an official event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), which oversees the Asian Games, officially announced on the 18th (Korean time) at the 39th OCA General Assembly held in Muscat, Oman, that eSports has been selected as an official event for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. The OCA expressed expectations that "eSports will add value to the Hangzhou Asian Games."

A total of six medals will be awarded in eSports at the Hangzhou Asian Games. This marks the first time that eSports has been adopted as an official event in a major international multi-sport event held every four years, such as the Olympics and the Asian Games. Previously, at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, eSports was included as a demonstration event to explore the possibility of becoming an official event, and after four years, this effort has come to fruition.

The Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) held an online briefing for OCA member countries in the early hours of the 17th to persuade the OCA of the justification for selecting eSports as an official event. As a board member of AESF, the Korea e-Sports Association cooperated with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee to ensure that eSports could be selected as an official event at the Asian Games. As a result, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee was the only National Olympic Committee (NOC) selected for collaboration, and among national eSports organizations, eight, including the Korea e-Sports Association, were chosen as partners.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.