Kuwait City, Kuwait, January 20, 2022: The Olympic Council of Asia has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Chinese internet and technology giant Tencent to promote the development of electronic sports in Asia with Asian Electronic Sports Federation through the Asian Electronic Esports Development Conference.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding took place during the Asian Electronic Sports Development Conference on Thursday, January 20 held jointly by the OCA and the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF), which is the governing body for esports in the continent.

The conference and MOU signing ceremony, themed “Blooming in Asia”, was conducted online and attended by the OCA Director General, Husain Al-Musallam, AESF President Kenneth Fok, Tencent Senior Vice President Steven Ma and other officials from AESF and Tencent.

Esports will be appearing in the OCA’s 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 10-25, 2022 for the first time as an official medal sport after being a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018.

The OCA Director General said: “The Olympic Council of Asia is delighted to build up a strategic cooperation with Tencent. We are sure that Tencent’s technology and innovation will help the OCA and the Asian Electronic Sports Federation create more exciting possibilities for the digital electronic sports industry in Asia.”

The parties discussed the development of esports and of traditional sports in Asia as well as the OCA-AESF “Road to Asian Games” continent-wide project already in place for Hangzhou 2022.

Tencent’s Steven Ma thanked the OCA for its trust and said Tencent would continue to support the OCA in promoting the long-term development of esports and traditional sports in general, and in preparing for the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. He promised that Tencent would work with Asian countries to jointly create an esports culture with Asian characteristics and promote the prosperity and development of the esports industry in Asia and around the world.

AESF President Kenneth Fok added: “The significance and progress of the Road to Asian Games will determine national team selection for Asian countries across various esports titles and mark an important step for the inclusion of esports in national level multisport competitions.”

The esports competition at Hangzhou 2022 will feature eight events: League of Legends, DOTA 2, FIFA Online 4, Hearthstone, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version and Street Fighter V. The OCA, AESF and Tencent E-sports are anticipating an audience of 500 million.

The conference also included a strategic partnership signing ceremony between the AESF and Tencent E-sports.