Team China Takes the Crown in League of Legends at Jakarta Asian Games

On Aug. 28 at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Team China took down Team of South Korea 3-1 and emerged victorious in the popular video game League of Legends (LoL) during the finals. In addition to the victory, China also participated in two other eSports games and bagged gold in Arena of Valor on the 26th, and silver in Clash Royale on the 27th.

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The LoL games spanned a total of three days. During the group matches, China lost two games and finished second after an undefeated South Korea. Although the losses took a toll on the team, Team China was quick to recover and climb their way up the ladder by defeating Chinese Taipei 2-1 first during semi-finals.

The two teams began the best-of-five finals by winning one game each before Team China knocked out the series by taking two games in a row, bringing the final score of the finals to 3:1.

Star Chinese player Jian “Uzi” Zihao snatched the title of Most Valuable Player. As a player in the Chinese professional eSport team Royal Never Give Up (Team RNG), Jian is widely known as one of the world’s best Attack Damage Carry (ADC), which refers to a character in-game capable of dealing massive damage.

This year marks the first time in history where eSports are competed at Asian Games. According to the Guardian, although eSports is not yet a medal sport, it will eventually be officially recognized as one at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in China, a bold step toward mainstream recognition of competitive gaming. It is also reported that the organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympic are considering taking eSport as a demonstration sport at the games.

While the Chinese eSport players have concluded their games with glory, other games such as StarCraft II, Hearthstone and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 are still waiting to start.