Thailand wins bronze at the Asian Games’ first eSports tournament

It’s the first eSports medal awarded at any Asian Games ever. Please give a round of applause for our Thai competitors.

Labelling competitive video games as a “sport” has been a controversial topic since the term was coined by the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Park Jie-won all the way back in 2000. That year was also when China and South Korea first licensed professional players.

Now, it is regarded as a competitive sport by many. Although the term “eSports” will get plenty of laughs by the NBA crowd, video game tournaments regularly attract major sponsors, audiences from around the globe, and huge prize pools. In fact, the DOTA 2 The International 2023 has a confirmed prize pool of USD 2,934,918 (est. THB 107,024,700).

[Hero and featured image credit: AESF – Asian Electronic Sports Federation/Facebook]

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Esports debut as a medal event at Asian Games: Will the Olympics be next?

Thailand wins bronze at Asian Games’ first eSports tournament

This year, the Asian Games at Hangzhou, China, mark a historic moment as it is the first time ever eSports was included officially as a category. Although there was a demonstration tournament five years ago in Jakarta, this is the first time it’s recognised as a medal event.

As the match of nearly 40 minutes went by, the teams sat on the lit stage equipped with live streaming and commentary.

Closely watched by officials, Thailand won bronze, and won against Vietnam with a score of 2-0 in a best-of-three series in the mobile game Arena of Valor developed by China tech company Tencent. The team members include Sorawat Boonphrom, Anusak Manpdong, Chayut Suebka, Vatcharanan Thaworn and Kawee Wachiraphas.

Later that evening, host China received the gold medal as they beat Malaysia with a score of 2-0.

This is certainly a big step for the gaming industry, and this move will certainly add some weight for the increasing number of people campaigning for the eSports category to be added to the Olympics. It is also announced that 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 will be including eSports as a medal event.

Congratulations to the winners.