League of Legends becomes part of Asian Games as e-sport

The League of Legends game will be admitted as an e-sport to the Asian Games, the Asian variant of the Olympic Games to be held in Jakarta later this year. It was already clear that e-sports would be included in the program alongside regular sports.

A head of the esports arm of Riot Games, the maker of League of Legends, told Dot Esports that the game has been selected for the Asian Games program. It is not yet clear which other games, if any, will be allowed.

In order to participate, there will be a qualifying tournament in June in which 45 countries participate. Each country may form a team of five players. Ultimately, eight country teams remain; these teams are allowed to participate in the Asian Games. E-sports and League of Legends are quite big in Asia, so quite a few well-known League of Legends players will probably participate.

In April it became clear that e-sports would become an official Olympic part of the Asian Games. This will in any case be the case in 2018 and 2022. This was announced after the partnership between the Olympic Council of Asia and Alisports was established. The Olympic Council of Asia is the organizer of the Asian Games and Alisports is part of the Chinese internet giant Alibaba.

The Asian Games will take place from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Asian Games are the regional Asian variant of the Olympic Games and are recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It is the second largest multi-sport event in the world.