The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) have announced the introduction of a new program, ‘Road to Asian Games’, for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games. 

The AESF will be the exclusive organizer of ‘Road to Asian Games’, the official qualifier program and esports competitions in the Asian Games. The new esports campaign will focus on grassroots development, inclusion programs, career pathways, health and wellbeing support, as well as protection of athlete’s rights.

The AESF will be responsible for selecting the esports event titles to be contested for the qualifiers and finals at the 2022 Asian Game and make the final confirmation on the selected titles in collaboration with the OCA. They will also form the qualifying and final tournament structure for all esports events at the 2022 Asian Games in collaboration with the OCA.

Leading up to the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, the AESF is also responsible for identifying the finalists for their respective esports game titles through regional qualifying competitions as part of the ‘Road to Asian Games’ campaign.

In addition, the AESF is also the first esports federation to create an official program called the ‘Esports Events Title Selection Guideline Program’, which will open a pathway for publishers to be part of an Olympic event like the Asian Games. It will also encourage fair and equal opportunities in esports.

Announcing the partnership, OCA Director-General Dr. Husain AHZ Al-Musallam said:

“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.”

During the signing, AESF President Kenneth Fok said:

“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.”