Recently the world witnessed the glory of the 18th Asian Games held in Indonesia. The Asian game was a great event that let the sports lovers witness some amazing and proud moments. The event this year gained a lot of popularity because of the performance of the players. But other than this, the one thing that grabbed everyone’s attention was the introduction of e-sports in the event.
E-sports made its entry in the 2018 Asian Games as a demonstration sport. This means that the medals won in the e-sports were not counted in the final medals tally. The players got the chance to perform in the e-sport category to get an idea about how these games will be in the coming Asian Games in the year 2022.
The idea of adding these e-sports as a demonstration sport in the 2018 Asian games was just for the fact to witness the response it gets. Thankful to the positive and appreciable response that these events have received, the officials of the Asian Games have confirmed that the e-sports category will be a medal event in the 2022 Asian games.
OCA president, Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah stated, “The OCA has always been committed to the inheritance, development, and improvement of Asian sports.” He also added, “And we look forward to the forward-thinking concepts of sports by Alisports, who will be helping us with their strength and experience in e-Sports.” Fahad seemed positive with the appreciation that e-sports have received and thus he said, “The decision just reflects the rapid development and popularity of this new form of sports participation among the youth.”
This year Asian games hosted many new sports for the first time including the e-sports. Till now, e-sports have failed to grab any serious recognition in any such big event and were just considered as a hobby. However, with the changing time and with the efforts of many large organizations, e-sports made it large in this year’s Asian Games.
The idea of including e-sports as a medal sport in 2022 Asian games is considered a huge step for encouraging the youngsters to take e-sports as a serious career option. Indian athletes performed exceptionally well in the e-sports and won the Bronze medal in one of the games. It indicates the importance and popularity of e-sports similar to the other traditional sports.
Overall 570 athletes participated in 36 different sports and bagged 69 different medals. Out of the total 69 medals, there were 15 gold, 24 silver, and 30 bronze medals. With this win, India’s name has been imprinted forever in the golden history of the Asian Games. It won’t be wrong to say that the ‘achche din’ of e-sports has finally begun.