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The inclusion of esports as a medal sport in the 2022 Asian Games is uncertain.

The Olympic Council of Asia states that esports requires one governing body before it can be recognized as a medal event.

Esports has been incorporated as a demonstration sport in the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asian Games.

Whether esports will be included as an official medal sport for the 2022 Asian Games is not yet confirmed, according to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

The OCA executive committee met in Jakarta earlier this month to approve a program of around 40 sports for the 2022 Asian Games. According to the OCA director general Husain Al-Musallam, esports requires a single international federation before it can be included as a medal sport. Current esports competitions are organized by a diverse range of entities, from third-party tournament platforms to the publishers of the games, with no one unifying regulatory body that oversees standards.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Esports requires a single international federation before it can be included as a medal sport.[/perfectpullquote]

“They have to get together to decide one governing body,” he commented. Adding that being “one international sport” was the key to making esports “official”.

The Asian Games (also known as the Asiad) has competing athletes from 45 countries, and is the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics. Esports will be a demonstration sport at this year’s Asian Games, which runs in Indonesia from Aug 18 to Sep 2.

Multiple titles including League of Legends and mobile-game Arena of Valor will feature. The Asian Games demonstration will likely prove a useful testing ground for esports inclusion into larger scale traditional sporting events. The esports competitions are being overseen by the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF), which is led by Kenneth Fok, VP of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]It has been specified that titles involving violence or shooting were not a good fit for Olympic values.[/perfectpullquote]

Last year, chiefs at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared that esports could be considered a medal event at the Games. However, it has been specified that titles involving violence or shooting were not a good fit for Olympic values.

In addition, esports and IOC executives met last month in Lausanne, Switzerland at the first ever IOC Esports Forum, where over 150 executives from the esports, sports and gaming worlds met to discuss future collaboration opportunities.

As a result of the forum, the IOC and Global Association of International Sports Federations formed an Esports Liaison Group, which is due to attend the Olympism in Action Forum in Buenos Aires later this year for further discussions.