EDG wins championship as esports promoted at CIIE
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 7, 2021
On Saturday, China's esports team EDward Gaming (EDG) earned their first-ever championship title at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. The news comes just days after organizers announced the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou will feature esports.
The news was announced during the 2021 China International Import Expo (CIIE) on Friday.
EDG's 3-2 win over South Korea's defending champions DWG KIA in an unforgettable and fierce final has sent Chinese esports fans into hysterical celebrations. Fans in China watched via streaming and social media during the early hours of Sunday morning.
The win was not the only good news for fans. On the first day of the CIIE in Shanghai, Hangzhou 2022 organizers announced the Hangzhou Asian Games Esports events at a press conference.
The games include FIFA online 4, PUBG Mobile Asian Games version, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, Dota 2, League of Legends, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, HearthStone, and Street Fighter V. Each event will have a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal, the organizing committee announced.
Becoming an official competition event is a milestone for esports after it debuted in the Asian Games as a demonstration event in Jakarta 2018.
Also, at the CIIE on Saturday, Shanghai-based sports event organizer and promoter Juss Sports signed a deal with Formula One World Championship Co., Ltd. to continue holding and promoting The F1 Esports Series China Championship, the world's first regional F1 esports event.
The Chinese esports sector is booming. Its revenue surged 44.16% from 94.73 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) in 2019 to 136.56 billion yuan in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of esports players and audiences across the country grew 9.65% year-on-year to hit 488 million last year, according to a report released jointly by the game publishing working committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association and the China Game Industry Development Research Institute.
