OCA Confirms AESF As Technical Delegate for Esports at 2022 Asian Games

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) have announced the introduction of ‘Road to Asian Games,’ the official qualifier program for esports at Asian Games, starting with the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. 

This news comes with the reconfirmation that the AESF takes charge of all the matters of technical conduct for esports at Asian Games as the sole Technical Delegate. The AESF will also be responsible for selecting the esports event titles to be contested for the qualifiers and finals at Asian Games and make the final confirmation on the selected titles in collaboration with the OCA. 
 
As the exclusive organizer of ‘Road to Asian Games,’ the official qualifier program and esports competition at Asian Games, the AESF will oversee the qualifying and final tournament structure for all esports events at Asian Games including the responsibility to identify the finalists for their respective esports event titles through regional qualifying competitions as part of the campaign. The campaign will begin in Hangzhou 2022, and with AESF to continue the organization of Esports through to Nagoya 2026, Doha 2030 and beyond. 
 
With esports making its debut as an official medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games, this campaign will lay the foundation in bringing the Olympic Values and Movement to esports to Asia as well as the world. In addition, as part of the program, the AESF plans to include virtual and simulating event titles to the ‘Road to Asian Games’ and finals competition as a demonstration event, which will further encourage and expand the esports scope from traditional titles which are recognised as console, computer or mobile esports game events. 
 
More than just an esports event, the ‘Road to Asian Games’ and finals at the 19th Asian Games shall exhibit the growth of esports from competitive gaming event to an official sport event.  Moreover, the ‘Road to Asian Games’ will play the important role to introduce a direct pathway that allows publishers to be part of Asian Games. This initiative will be the first of its kind to bring fair and equal opportunities to all publishers and advance esports developments not just for Asia, but worldwide.
 
Furthermore, the 'Road to Asian Games’ campaign will also include a focus on grassroots development, inclusion programs, career pathways, health and wellbeing support, as well as athlete’s rights and protection. As part of the Asian Games community outreach, the AESF will deliver and execute the ‘AESF Experience Program’ with full support from the OCA where AESF will aim to connect esports with athletes, fans, and local communities. This initiative will include a plan of an esports zone at the Asian Games Athletes Village, OCA House, and Fan Zones.
 
To officialise the partnership for the ‘Road to Asian Games’ campaign and the confirmation on the roles and responsibilities of AESF, an official Signing Ceremony was held with the OCA Director-General Dr. Husain AHZ Al-Musallam, OCA Director of Sports Mr. Haider A H E Farman, AESF President Mr. Kenneth Fok, and AESF Director-General Mr. Sebastian Lau in attendance. 
 
Commenting on the partnership, Director General of OCA Dr. Husain AHZ Al-Musallam declared “It is a great pleasure to officially announce our partnership between OCA and AESF for the new esports program for our Asian Games and OCA will provide full support for successful esports events at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. We wish the best to our partner AESF on the journey ahead.”
 
Echoing Dr Husain’s sentiments, AESF President Kenneth Fok added “I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the continuous support and trust from the OCA. I believe that the Asian Games presents the best stage for us to share Olympic Values with the esports community and we aim to make our esports communities develop further through this opportunity. Also, we look forward to a successful collaboration with OCA as well as LOC.”
 
This collaboration not only marks another milestone in AESF’s continuous effort to drive esports forward, but also as testament to our constantly growing reach and network. The OCA has entrusted the AESF again with a major undertaking which would shape the world of esports for many years to come. The AESF welcomes this challenge and looks forward to delivering a momentous and unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

Also read:

• IESF SIGNS AN OFFICIAL MOU WITH AESF

The bigger picture.

Time line of IESF's achievements.

With  esports sitting on the cusp of much greater things, there are still many gamers who do not see the full picture and only see a small segment.

The International Esports Federation (IESF) which was founded in 2008, has tirelessly worked away at having esports accredited as a sport by the main international controlling bodies.

Besides having organised and run World Championships consistently from 2009 through to 2017, IESF has had a number of important milestones with major sporting bodies like OCA, WADA, TAFISA, IAAF, and FISU.

Membership of IESF has shot up from the 8 original founding member federations in 2008 to 46 member federations.

Even the most major of private companies involved in esports, like ESL, openly backs the formation of national federations, please read: ESL helps found Germany’s Esports Association - eSport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD)

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is cognisant of the changes occurring on the world platform, MSSA has  been affiliated to IESF since 2009, and fully subscribes to IESF's long-term vision.

In my opinion so should every organisation involved in esports. From the smallest LAN and online championship operator, to the biggest.

The global vision expounded by IESF will benefit all, just as MSSA's efforts have done so in South Africa. Without MSSA having had esports accredited as a sport in 2005, would the current growth and benefits that are accruing be possible?

Esports is changing and evolving.

This is a great time to be involved.

Markus Koskivirta, IeSF's first chairperson of IeSF's Referees' Commission.

Markus Koskivirta (on left) witnessing the Athletes' Oath at IeSF's 8th World Championships - Jakarta.

 International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) elected Markus Sakari Koskivirta (Finland), as the Chairperson of IeSF’s Referee Commission in June 2017.

             Starting his referee career in 2009, Markus Koskivirta has successfully held various positions as a top class referee. Markus was selected as, and held, the position of head referee of IeSFs 8th Esports World Championship.

"I'm very thankful for this opportunity to ensure the high quality of IeSF World Championship now and in the future. The Rules and Regulations used for competitions are what make a tournament reliable and ensure an even ‘playing field’ for all participants. In addition to guaranteeing the integrity of the World Championship I believe the Commission can benefit other esports operatives by creating a standardized set of rules and guidelines for use openly and around the world. I'm personally looking forward to starting the work in collaboration with the members of the Commission as soon as possible.” said Markus Koskivirta, the new Chairperson of IeSF’s Referee Commission.

             IeSF’s Referee Commission will be focusing on the management of competition regulations for its Esports World Championships. It will also have input on the criteria for venues, regulations for equipment, to allow esports athletes to play in a standardized environment. The commission shall also establish a training system to educate potential esports referees in relation to the International Esports Academy. Such training of referees is designed to support esports athletes once their gaming careers have ended.

             “IeSF is very pleased to appoint Mr. Koskivirta as the Chair” said Alex Lim, Secretary General of IeSF. “With his expertise, IeSF trusts that the new referee commission will be a milestone for standardizing the international esports scene, which is also one of the core mission of IeSF. We will continue enhance the esports ecosystem and create more values for the welfare of esports athletes for the better of esports and protection of players.”

IeSF partners with Alisports

Internationale-Sports Federation (IeSF) has announced a partnership, so called ‘Exclusive Strategic Partnership’, with Alibaba Sports Group (Alisports) in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2016.

Alisports and IeSF first met in Beijing early this year. Although, it is a quite short period time to make something concrete between the two different parties, it quickly became clear that both parties shared the same vision on future goals which quickly enabled IeSF and Alisports to reach consensus for such partnership.

There are three specific goals which both shared.

• First, both parties want to have a tournament in which both amateur e-Sports players and professional e-Sports players can participate. By pursuing this objective, IeSF will fully endorse WESG Game Series initiatives.
• Second, both parties shall work together to have e-Sports accredited as a sport.
• Last but not least, both parties will create the unique IP necessary to support the aims and objectives as mentioned in the above points.

IeSF’s World Championship’s journey started in 2009, thus IeSF now has the necessary know-how, experience, resources and more in terms of operating tournaments as well as having global coverage through its 47 member National Federations. These various strengths from IeSF will support the World Electronic Sports Games, WESG, hosted by Alisports to be a tournament which can benefit e-Sports players, fans, and officials.

IeSF has put great efforts to enter International Sports Society. IeSF has been approved as one of the official signatories of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2013. IeSF is currently an international member of The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA) and IeSF is approved as counterpart for e-Sports discipline by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). IeSF is preparing documentation to submit to International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Sport Accord at this moment. IeSF will now spread its wings to enter International Sports Society with support from Alisports.

To make sports market-oriented and gaming sports-oriented, Alisports hosts WESG with a total prize more than $5.5 million and total investment more than 1 billion yuan ($149 million), attracting e-Sports players from over 100 countries and regions in this inauguration. Meanwhile, Alisports is also planning to build e-Sports Stadiums around China, in the hope to make e-Sports become a way of life.

Alisports CEO, Mr. Zhang Dazhong addressed the gathered audience, saying: “As the most authoritative international organization in e-sports industry, IeSF has been committed to promoting e-Sports movement into the mainstream, including pushing it into the Olympic Games, which is consistent with our ideal. We are honoured to cooperate with IeSF as the exclusive global partners in the long-term. I believe the two sides will jointly promote the development of the global e-Sports industry. “

IeSF President, Mr. Byung Hun Jun said “This partnership is one big step to IeSF. I believe IeSF and Alisports will maximize each other’s strength by this partnership. I also believe e-Sports Stadium can be transformed to be a fashion place for Youth. IeSF will make our all effort to be with more e-Sports fans in more countries together with Alisports from now on.”

▶ About IeSF

The International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is an International Union governing e-Sports globally, established in 2008. Currently IeSF retains 47 member National Federations. As e-Sports has been perceived as one of potential Sport disciplines, those National Federations are getting closer to be recognized by National Sport Authorities such as Ministry of Sport and National Olympic Committees.

Since 2009, IeSF has been hosting e-Sports World Championship every year. Also, IeSF cooperates with various International Sport Bodies. IeSF has been approved as one of the official signatories of World Anti-Doping Agency in 2013, and since then, IeSF has been operating doping control for every event. Also, IeSF is official counterpart of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as an International member of TAFISA (The association For International Sport for All).

As taking further step, IeSF is aiming for affiliation to Sport Accord. IeSF is also an officially recognized applicant for the International Olympic Committee. IeSF has received an official letter from the IOC on April 17^th. IeSF will be submitting all relevant documents by August 31^st 2016 and will receive the results in December.

▶ About Alisports

Alisports, founded in September 2015, is a sports platform established with the aim of placing the entire range of services from ticketing and broadcasting rights to rights management in one hand. It devotes to building the basic sports economy platform with the thinking of Internet and developing sports business both online and offline. Alisports consequently strives to create value and make contributions to the international and domestic sports associations.

Alisports addresses the interests of both spectators and sportspersons. The utilisation of internet-based technologies will play a decisive role in the transformation of the sports industry in China. Alisports is a subsidiary company of the Alibaba Group, the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume. 

Move over Chad le Clos, eSports is coming!

The International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) has taken its first step towards the recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

IeSF has submitted to IOC the “Official Letter of Request” on February 19^th to make its first action to attain the recognition, followed by an answer on April 8^th, by IOC, explaining the detailed procedure and next steps the federation should take. IeSF will submit all related documents for the recognition process and will undergo its first evaluation in December this year.

For the past years, IeSF has been working hard to increase its collaboration with various international sports society members to leverage e-sport into the sports sector. In 2013, it became the official signatory of WADA (World Anti Doping Agency), and also worked togather with OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) by managing the e-Sport event during the tournament. It has also been a member of TAFISA (The Association for International Sports for All) since 2014, and will be hosting the 8^th e-Sports World Championship in October during the 2016 World Sports for All Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. Last year in 2015, IeSF has signed an official Partnership agreement with IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), being connected to one oldest and profound organizations in the sports sector.

IeSF will be taking part in the SportAccord Convention next week, from April 18^th – 22^nd , to take further steps in the sports society. IeSF Secretary General Alex Lim, will be officially participating in the panel discussion during the convention conference program, to increase awareness of e-sports in the international sports society and also portray its official recognition as a sport.

“IeSF is currently working hard to receive SportAccord membership, and simultaneously taking an additional challenge this year to take its steps for IOC recognition” said Byung Hun Jun, President of IeSF. “We still have many tasks to cover and this will be indeed a difficult challenge. Nevertheless, we will keep on driving our forces for e-sports to become an official sport and also care for the welfare of e-sport athletes. This challenge can be successfully completed with the continuous support from our e-sport fans, Athletes, game companies, and partners working together in the e-sports industry”

2016 will be an exciting and challenging year for IeSF. IeSF will continue to develop the “IeSF e-Sports Academy”, manage the e-sports event during 2016 World Sports for All Games, and also work with its utmost strength to be recognized by IOC and attain SportAccord Membership.

Taylor Rose selected to be the MWEB Protea eSports flag-bearer

Taylor Rose 

There is little doubt that to be 'the' flag-bearer at an official international sporting event is indeed an honour.

MSSA's flag-bearer is an outstanding person who bears South Africa's beloved flag honouring it above all others.

Thus the selection by the International eSports Federation (IeSF) of Capetonian Taylor Rose to bear South Africa's flag at the Opening Ceremony of the 7th World Championships has very much honoured Taylor. As South Africa's flag-bearer, Taylor joins a veritable group of who's who in international eSports.

Dignatories that shall attend the opening ceremony include members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA), Blizzard Entertainment, and of the International eSports Federation.

Photographs of Taylor Rose may be found on: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1077367312297193.1073741834.140301479337119&type=3

The 7th e-Sports World Championship

■ Outline of the 7th e-Sports World Championship

1. Period : 2^nd ~ 5^th Dec. 2015

- Arrival Date : 1^st Dec. 2015

- Departure Date : 6^th Dec. 2015

2. Venue : NEXON Arena, Seoul

3. Host : International e-Sports Federation / Korea e-Sports Association

4. Sponsor : Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism / Longzhu

6. Official Game Titles

- League of Legends (Riot Games)

- Starcraft II (Blizzard Entertainment)

- Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment)

7. PAX : 160 players from 28 IeSF member nations

■ e-Sports World Championship Time Line

Date	Time	Program	Remark
1st of Dec	19:00 ~ 21:00	Orientation	NEXON Arena
2nd of Dec	11:00 ~ 12:00	Opening Ceremony	Main Stage
	12:00 ~ 21:00	Group Preliminary	Tournament Zone/Stage
3rd of Dec	10:00 ~ 18:00	Quarterfinal (8)	Tournament Zone/Stage
	18:00~19:30	e-Sports Summit 2015 (Panel Discussion)	Main Stage
4th of Dec	14:00 ~ 17:00	IeSF General Meeting	OCloud Hotel
	10:00 ~ 20:00	Semifinal (4)	Main Stage
5th of Dec	10:00 ~ 20:00	Final	Main Stage
	20:00 ~ 20:30	Closing Ceremony	Main Stage

■ e-Sports Summit 2015

1. Name of the event : e-Sports Summit 2015

2. Date : 3rd, December 2015 (Thu) 18:00 ~ 19:30

- Open Discussion : 18:00 ~ 19:00

- Q&A Session : 19:00 ~ 19:30

3. Venue : NEXON Arena Main stage

4. Potential Attendees (One person per each department)

Organization	Participants
IeSF	Silviu Stroie, Vice President
OCA / IOC	Rita Subowoo, Chairwoman of OCA Standing Committees / IOC member
West Nally / IFP	Patrick Nally, President of West Nally, and IFP
University of West Scotland	Andy Mia, Professor University of West of Scotland / IOC social media mentor
e-Sports Player	Sun Woon Lee / SC2 World Champion
Game Developer	Blizzard Entertainment

5. Observer : Kit McConnell (Sport Director of IOC)

6. Main Topic

- Possibility of e-Sports’ recognition from International Sport Society

7. Method

- MC brings up a sub topics, and panels have free discussion.

- Sub Topics and questions will be shared in advance.

- The discussion will be produced to broadcasting contents and will be distributed through online streaming.

- Media will be observing and may give questions to panels.

IeSF accelerates its effort to make e-Sports recognized by International Sport Society

Rita Subowo & Byunghun Jun

Jun Byung Hun, the president of International e-Sports Federation (IeSF), restarts international exchange activity in order for e-Sport to be recognized by the International Sport Society.

Mr. Jun visited Jakarta, Indonesia on 29^th of September and had meetings with Mr. Mahyudin, S.T..M.M, the vice president of MPR (Madjelis Permusjawaratan Rakjat) in Indonesia, Ms. Rita Subowo, the president of Indonesia NOC, and Mr. Hayono Isman, the president of FORMI (Indonesia Sport for All organization).

The agenda of this meeting was the possibility of authorization of e-Sport as official multi sports events which is one of the main priorities of president Jun. Indonesia will be hosting the TAFISA World Games in 2016, the Asian Youth Games in 2017 and the Asian Games in 2018. As e-Sport was adopted as an official program in the TAFISA World Games 2016, President Jun tried to promote the vision and importance of e-Sport to key people from the national sports authorities in Indonesia. Mr. Jun was eager to request their assistance to allow e-Sport to be included in international sport events which will be held in Indonesia in the future.

During the meeting with Mr. Mahyudin, Mr. Jun introduced e-Sport to him and made a request for legal and financial assistance.

Mr. Mahyudin expressed his interest to hold the IeSF e-Sports World Championship in Indonesia and other IeSF events. MPR in Indonesia is the governmental institution that is responsible for enactment of a constitution, creating national policies and compilation of the budget.

Mr. Jun also met with Ms. Rita Subowo, the president of Indonesian (National Olympic Committee). Ms. Subowo holds many important positions in the Sports world, such as committee chairwoman of OCA(Olympic Council of Asia), a member of the IOC committee(International Olympic Committee), and the chairwoman of the organizing committee for 2018 Asian Games. Mr. Jun discussed the possibilities for e-Sport to be in multi sports events in Indonesia as well as requesting for help to introduce e-Sports to international sport society.

Ms. Rita said, “We would like to take e-Sport into 2017 Asian Youth Games in Indonesia. Through this, we will also be able to see possibility of e-Sports to be selected in further multi sports events.” In addition, she showed interest in introducing and promoting e-Sport to global sport society.

At a meeting with Mr. Hayono Isman, Mr. Jun discussed issues about e-Sports in 2016 TAFISA World Games in depth. He expressed that TAFISA World Games can expand the amateur base of e-Sport and will be a great chance for e-Sport to be introduced to international organizations such as IOC, UN, UNESCO which have been supporting TAFISA.

Through those meetings in Indonesia, e-Sport itself has a much better chance of being a part of the 2017 Asian Youth Games as well as 2016 TAFISA World Games. Through these references, IeSF will continue pushing for e-Sports to be a part of the 2018 Asian Games as a demonstration discipline.

Mr. Jun said, “Indonesia is an important nation that will hold international sport events three years in a row and its government and sport council have high interests in e-Sport. So we, IeSF, are going to try to spread the possibility of e-Sports as an official sport to all over the world and promote e-Sports players to be admitted as sport athletes through international sport events in Indonesia.”

Sender : Jay Shin, Business Department TEL: +82 2 715 6668  FAX:+82 2 713 2227 EMAIL : jshin@ie-sf.org