Nagoya, Japan, June 5, 2024: The President and Secretary General of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 organising committee attended the Aichi-Nagoya E-sports Research Conference in Nagoya on June 3.
AINAGOC President Hideaki Ohmura, who is the Governor of Aichi Prefecture, and AINAGOC Secretary General Satoshi Murate spoke about the preparations for the next Asian Games and the inclusion of e-sports as a medal sport for the second consecutive Asiad.
E-sports was a demonstration sport, with no official medals, at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and was elevated to full medal status for the first time in Asian Games history at Hangzhou last year with seven events.
President Ohmura, as an honorary advisor to the Aichi E-sports Union that hosted the research meeting, said: "The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games is going to be a landmark for e-sports to be recognised as an official sport in Japan. As Governor of Aichi Prefecture, I'm paying a lot of attention to industry and sports.”
Secretary General Murate added: "We must take advantage of the Asian Games and use it as a source of development in Aichi, Nagoya and Japan. I want to create a wonderful Asian Games with all of you.”
As well as explaining the history and philosophy of the Asian Games and looking ahead to 2026, the role of the International Olympic Committee in recognizing E-sports and regulating the content of the game titles was also discussed.
The 20th Asian Games, which will run from September 19 to October 4, 2026 with 41 sports and 15,000 athletes and team officials from 45 National Olympic Committees, will play a big part in the development of e-sports.
The research meeting was held for the 34th time and was attended by e-sports officials, companies and media.
