China won the first gold esports medal in Asian Games history in the Eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Tuesday by beating Malaysia in the smartphone multiplayer battle game “Arena of Valor”, to delight fans in the world’s biggest esports market.
Esports, which refers to video games played competitively and whose players can make millions in prize-money, is making its debut as a medal event in this edition of the Asian Games, as the gaming sector pushes its case for Olympic inclusion.
Then the arena’s several thousand fans, many of whom waved multi-coloured light sticks, screamed their support when the stadium announcer introduced the Chinese team. , teams of five players first pick characters, called "heroes", to operate in the virtual world of the game before working with team mates to destroy their opponent's base.Tapping furiously on their phones, and watched by millions of fans at home, the players communicated via headsets as their "heroes" exchanged fierce and noisy blows on large screens above the stage - an image that may seem bizarre to sports purists.
“I stopped working and to watch CCTV's e-sport broadcast, almost bursting into tears,” one user wrote on Weibo, referring to coverage of the match by the state broadcaster which, though not live, was history-making given authorities' recent nervousness about gaming.that children under 18 should be limited to a maximum of two hours a day on their smartphones, sending shares in tech companies tumbling.
"The government seems to be torn between regulating and restricting mobile and PC gaming on the one side and supporting events like esports tournaments on the other side. “Even skateboarding, breakdancing, rock climbing is in the Olympics, so why not esports?" said Wong Kang Woon, Team Manager of Malaysia's esports team.
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