Esports officially confirmed as medal event at Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya

In a future-defining development, esports is set to continue as an official medal event at Asian Games 2026, which is scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. On July 8, 2023, during the 42nd OCA, the General Assembly discussed specific plans and prepared for the upcoming Asiad. Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee (AINAGOC) confirmed the inclusion of esports.

Esports was one of the two sports from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for the 20th edition of the quadrennial. However, the list of medal events as part of the esports for the continental multi-sporting event was not revealed, and more details about the same are expected later.

Esports set to make debut as a medal event at 19th Asian Games Hangzhou, China

Following a successful pilot with six titles at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in 2018, esports will formally debut as a medal event in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The available events are PUBG Mobile, Dota 2, League of Legends, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, FIFA, Street Fighter V, and Arena of Valor.

Esports has been announced as an official medal sport for the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at the 42nd Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly held in Bangkok, Thailand on 8 July 2023. The Karate proposed by NAGOC was also approved, with a total of 41 major events.… pic.twitter.com/jyrKcwUIqO

— 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 Official (@19thAGofficial) July 10, 2023

Unfortunately, Hearthstone, previously announced on this list, was removed after the Olympic Council of Asia meeting in March 2023. This was done after Blizzard Entertainment officially shut down its server in the Chinese mainland. This was a setback for the Indian contingent as India’s Tirth Mehta won Bronze Medal during the pilot run.

Moreover, Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Varma, who would represent the country, missed out on this opportunity. Additionally, two other demonstration events, AESF Robot Masters and AESF VR Sports, will accompany the abovementioned events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTzHr-fWIBA

Competition Format | PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version | RDAG 2022 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTzHr-fWIBA)

India will be participating in five events and sending a 15-member team for the Asiad scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8, 2023. The titles and participants are

FIFA Online: Charanjot Singh and Karman Singh Tikka.
Street Fighter V: Champion Edition: Mayank Prajapati and Ayan Biswas.
League of Legends: Akshaj Shenoy, Samarth Arvind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan, Aditya Selvaraj, Aakash Shandilya, and Sanindhya Malik.
Dota 2: Darshan, Krish, Abhishek, Ketan, and Shubham.

The new announcement about including esports in the 2026 Asiad will certainly encourage Indian athletes and teams as they have set an aim for the coming years. It will be exciting to see how they perform in the 19th Asian Games and prepare for the subsequent one.