Taking place from September 19 to October 4 in Aichi & Nagoya, Japan, ASIAD 20 is the second consecutive Games to bring e-sports (Esports) into the official medal competition content with 11 sports, the most ever.
The Vietnam National E-Sports Team consists of 23 athletes and 6 coaches, aiming to compete for high achievements in 4 sports: League of Legends; PUBG Mobile - Asian Games version; NARAKA: Bladepoint and Identity V - Asian Games version. Among these, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile and NARAKA: Bladepoint are 3 games currently published domestically by VNGGames.
These are also contents that Esports Vietnam owns a force of athletes who regularly compete in professional e-sports tournaments at regional and international levels, as well as attracting a large number of viewers around the world.
The send-off ceremony to participate in ASIAD 20 of the Vietnamese Esports team took place on the morning of September 16, with representatives of leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City E-Sports Federation, Vietnam E-Sports Entertainment Association (VIRESA), VNGGames and a team of coaches and athletes representing 4 Esports sports.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Mr. Do Viet Hung, Chairman of VIRESA and leader of the Vietnam Esports team, emphasized: "ASIAD is one of the most important sports arenas that every Vietnamese athlete wants to participate in. The goal of the Vietnam National E-Sports Team at ASIAD 20 is not only to compete for medals, but also to show the capacity, bravery and increasingly clear position of Vietnamese e-sports in the Asian arena. VIRESA believes that with a serious professional selection and preparation process and the coordination of publishers, clubs, businesses and the community, athletes will enter the Games with the highest spirit and determination.
Besides the goal of contributing at least 3 medals (2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal) to the overall achievement of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation, the Vietnamese Esports team also identified this as a rare opportunity for athletes to accumulate international competition experience, improve their capacity and gradually affirm the position of Vietnamese Esports, creating more motivation for the development of the Esports ecosystem and the domestic digital sports economy.
According to the plan, Vietnamese esports teams will depart for Japan in many phases, suitable for the competition schedule of each sport. Before the Congress, the teams continued to maintain the international training and competition program. Recently, the national team PUBG Mobile Vietnam completed a tour in Malaysia, at the Southeast Asian-scale PUBG Mobile tournament.
Meanwhile, the League of Legends national team has a training period in Busan, South Korea and will play a friendly match with the Korean National Team on September 20.
According to the e-sports schedule at ASIAD 20, NARAKA: Bladepoint will be the opening sport of Vietnam's esports journey at the Games with matches taking place on September 23rd and 24th.
After the SEA Games 31, SEA Games 32 and ASIAD 19, the continued presence at ASIAD 20 marks another step in the process of integration of Vietnamese e-sports into the international high-performance sports system.
