The 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) will be representing the sports of bowling, indoor tennis, weightlifting, basketball and now eSports? To be fair on their part it is indoors.
We know people are taking eSports seriously and that’s great. But it’s interesting to see it paired together with actual athletic sports like this. As of now, there are more than 1,300 teams and individuals from 25 countries and regions including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Yemen. Competing in StarCraft II, Hearthstone, DOTA 2 and The King of Fighters XIV.
Held from September 17th to the 27th in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan. The event is hosted by the Olympic Council of Asia, The Asian eSports Federation with support from Alisports (the sports wing of the Alibaba Group) and Duo Sport Group. If you’re interested in joining you and your team can enter in the website below before the 30th of June.
Registration website for players: http://events.esports-asia.
The national and regional selections will all be held online and will occur from July to early August. During the national selection, two players from each country will be selected from the National Olympic Committee. Right now the favorites to win in DOTA 2 and Hearthstone are China and the Philippines. Japan in The King of Fighters XIV. And with no surprise South Korea in StarCraft II.
If all goes well the Olympic Council of Asia has already announced that eSports will be a part of more Olympic games. Including the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
It looks like eSports in Asia is getting more and more legit now. But I still find it strange to see it teamed up with physical sports.
