Hangzhou, China, April 9, 2021: The addition of electronic sports for the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 has proved to be big news in the host city and throughout China.
Esports and breaking were both added to the Hangzhou 2022 sports programme at the 39th OCA General Assembly in Muscat, Oman, on December 16, 2020.
Since then, the news has become a trending topic on the Sina Weibo Chinese microblogging website with 190 million views and over 300 million views in total across all online platforms, guaranteeing strong interest in the event from the public and media at Hangzhou next year.
These impressive figures were reported as a milestone event to the OCA Coordination Committee by the promotions and public relations department of organising committee HAGOC during a meeting on April 8.
With six medal events at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September 2022, esports will have its own new stadium – Xiacheng Digital Park Esports Centre.
Still under construction, the venue has a floor area of 80,000 square metres and a capacity of 4,087 seats. Work is expected to be completed by the end of October.
Esports was a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in 2018 but will hold official medal status at Hangzhou 2022. The competition will be organised and managed by the OCA’s partner, the Asian Electronic Sports Federation based in Hong Kong, China.