Kuwait City, Kuwait, February 22, 2025: The future of sport was on display at the OCA Seminar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology and E-Sports at the OCA HQ on Saturday, February 22.
A series of international experts explained how AI could assist with training and performance of athletes at all levels, while leaders of the e-sports community looked back on the integration of e-sports into the Asian Games and anticipated a bright future.
Summing up the day-long seminar, the OCA’s Director of Media and Broadcast, Mr. Jeans Zhou Jian, thanked all the delegates from National Olympic Committees and national e-sports federations for travelling to Kuwait and taking part in this new initiative.
“We have covered many aspects of AI Technology in the sports world and also looked at the rise of e-sports in recent years,” he said.
“We hope that this seminar has proved beneficial to all of you in these two key areas and that you will go back home with more knowledge to share in your NOC or federation.”
The seminar was divided into five main sessions with several sub-topics. The five themes were:
*The role of AI in the development of traditional sports
*Integration of AI and Big Data in athlete training and injury prevention
*Technological innovations (Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, Simulation)
*AI, E-sports and Digitization in Sports
*Development of International E-sports events.
After opening remarks from the OCA Vice President for West Asia, Dr. Thani Abdulraham Al Kuwari of Qatar, two representatives of OpenSport – CEO Ray Walia and Chief Technology Officer Guy Millar – presented on “Using AI to enhance athlete performance”.
This was followed by “The Opportunity and Challenge of AI to the Sports Industry”. Leo Tang Xiaowei, Technology Cooperation Marketing Director for Ant Group, listed five success stories from the Hangzhou Asian Games, including the registration of over 105 million digital torchbearers and a Guinness World Record of 106 million people participating in a “Green” initiative in the first Asian Games to embrace carbon neutrality. Don Chen, CEO of Digital E-sports Asia, closed the first session.
The second theme involved presentations from Mr. Jason Qiao Shuai, Business Solution General Manager of Baichuan AI, and a joint presentation on the use of AI in swimming at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, by Associate Professor Prashant Jamwal Kumar and newly-appointed IOC Young Leader Ms. Yenlik Ultarakova.
The afternoon programme opened with the third theme, presented by Dr. Xiaotian Yan, Director of China National Virtual Reality Innovation Center (Qingdao), and lecturer Alexander Schmidt of the Vienna University of Technology.
Dr. Vamsi Kiran Adhikarla, Senior Researcher of the International Teqball Federation, spoke about the Synergy of AI and Big Data in athlete training.
In the final session, Aaron Liu, Technical Delegate of the Jakarta Asian Games E-sports demonstration event and International Technical Official of the Hangzhou Asian Games E-sports medal event, spoke about the growth of e-sports in Asia and globally, with 3.42 billion players around the world. He said that the Asian Games had united the e-sports community and that new opportunities had arisen for players to represent their NOC on the international stage and offered a new career path.
The final presenter was Kat Gong, head of strategic relationships for Tencent E-sports, who introduced the tech giant and explained the measures they had taken to integrate e-sports into the Asian Games in Hangzhou, as Tencent owned four of the seven titles contested.
At the conclusion of the seminar, the OCA’s Director of Development and NOC Relations, Mr. Wissam Trkmani, presented certificates of participation to the speakers.
