“We want Hong Kong to be recognised as a global hub for esports as well as the future of traditional sports.”

Last week, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Tencent signed an MOU themed “Blooming in Asia” during an Asian Electronic Sports Development Conference with the aim of developing the esports industry in Asia. They also announced the strategic cooperation between OCA and Tencent, and between AESF and Tencent E-sports, as well as plans for the RDAG.

Esports was a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and was introduced as a medal event for the first time in a multi-sport competition during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. Tencent Games owns some of the world’s most popular games such as Fornite, League of Legends and Valorant.

The RDAG was launched in November last year by the OCA and AESF during the OCA’s general assembly in Dubai. The programme commits financial and technical help to 44 National Olympic Committees in Asia as they prepare for esports’ debut at the Games, and beyond to Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in 2026, Doha, Qatar in 2030 and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2034.

“The recent MOU signing can be dated back to the AESF and Tencent partnership for the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang 2018, which laid a solid foundation for further development of the partnership and an introduction of the upcoming Road to Asian Games programme,” Fok said.

“Especially for the last edition of the Asian Games, the regional qualifiers for three titles held in Hong Kong were very successful with substantial support from Tencent and AESF has received a participation of esports athletes from more than 20 countries and regions.

“Moreover, the world’s famous esports athletes, such as Faker, also represented the Korean national team, and it helped the events to attract significant attention from the public and extensive media coverage from all over the world.”

Fok said he expected more countries to take part in the Hangzhou esports events and the Hong Kong-based AESF wants to take advantage of its popularity and its alliance with Tencent to promote the city.

He said the collaboration extends beyond esports and will also explore “digital and technology-based cooperation” for traditional sports.

“Tencent is the one of global front runners in IT/Technology industry, being based in Shenzhen and AESF is the only international esports governing body who takes care of the Olympic programmes with various branch arms across the continent,” Fok said.

“Therefore, as the leader in each respective area, the close cooperation between the two organisations will pursue a leading position to present how IT/Technology can support sports innovation in terms of playing, engagement, culture and education.”

In addition, Fok said esports could play a pivotal role in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s plan to build a “Northern Metropolis” in areas bordering Shenzhen to ease housing shortages and create a new hi-tech hub.

“Being based in Hong Kong, the AESF believes that it will definitely help boost esports as an important content of Northern Metropolis concept.

“AESF and Tencent are planning for joint efforts in cultural exchanges, technical talents cultivation, Asian sporting event support and digital sports research, thus facilitating the development of Asian sports, encouraging the young generation to participate in sports and explore their future opportunities through understanding of IT/technology, sports and esports.”

Mars Hou, vice-president of Tencent Games and general manager of Tencent esports, said: “Tencent E-sports will spare no effort to assist AESF by actively sharing mature event organisation experience, providing education for players and practitioners, jointly promoting the exchanges of competitive sports in Asia, as well as cultural exchanges among different nationalities and regions.”