HANGZHOU: South Korea won the gold medal in the esports League of Legends competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday with a 2-0 victory over Chinese Taipei.
South Korea showed dominance in the sport, leaving its opponent with absolutely no chance to fight back in the match.
Such a result was unsurprising, as South Korea took revenge on hosts China, the only team deemed capable of defeating South Korea, in Thursday’s semifinals.
China defeated South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where esports was a demonstration event.
In the bronze-medal match, China recovered from one game down to beat Vietnam 2-1.
“Participating in the Asian Games is valuable for these players’ life and career,” China coach Zhu Kai said.
“This kind of experience will do a lot of good to us,” Tian “Meiko” Ye, the support of China commented.
This is the first time that esports has become a medal event at the Asian Games and it will also appear in Nagoya, Japan in 2026.
Seven gold medals will be decided over nine days of esports competition, including two mobile games. League of Legends is widely seen as the most popular event.
The medals of the Dream Three Kingdoms 2 will be determined on Saturday.
