Thailand Wins First-Ever Esports Medal At the Asian Games, Claims Bronze Medal After Beating Vietnam

Esports was a demonstration event in the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018 but is now, for the first time, a medal event in Hangzhou, supporting the video game industry’s campaign for an Olympic slot.

Tuesday’s mobile phone game between Thailand and Vietnam resulted in a bronze medal for Thailand, the first esports medal to be given out at the Asian Games. Olympic officials will be keenly monitoring this competition.

Five years ago, esports was only a demonstration event at the Asian Games in Jakarta. This year, it will be a medal event for the first time at the Games in Hangzhou, which will support the video game industry’s bid for an Olympic slot.

In Hangzhou, competition is taking place for a total of seven gold medals in a variety of events, such as online football and multiplayer combat arena games.

Since Sunday, the competition has attracted large crowds to Hangzhou’s Esports Centre, demonstrating how passionate Chinese fans are about esports despite national laws restricting children’s gaming time.

They cheered on five Thai players on Tuesday as they defeated Vietnam 2-0 in a best-of-three match for bronze in the “Arena of Valor”: Sorawat Boonphrom, Anusak Manpdong, Chayut Suebka, Vatcharanan Thaworn, and Kawee Wachiraphas.

Arena of Valor is a multiplayer battle arena game that has gained enormous popularity in Asia and was created by a subsidiary of Chinese internet giant Tencent.

The players lined up in their squads on a stage lighted by fluorescent bulbs while loud music played in the background and live analysts called the action on large screens for the audience.

Over the course of a game that lasted close to 40 minutes, the participants frantically tapped their little screens and talked with teammates on headphones.

“We feel excited and great,” said Bangkok native Boonphrom after the win. Boonphrom is a 30-year-old who turned professional a decade ago after first getting into gaming at the age of five.

“The feeling is good, so good.” Malaysia and China will play for esports’ first gold medal in the evening session on Tuesday, also for Arena of Valor.

Medalists

So far here are the medalist in the Asian Games 2023:

Medal table

Similarly, here is what the country wise medal tally looks like.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Thailand (THA)	1	1	1	3
2	China (CHN)*	1	0	0	1
3	Malaysia (MAS)	0	1	0	1
4	South Korea (KOR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (4 entries)		2	2	2	6

If esports are the future of the Olympics, Thai Princess Sirivannavari Mahidol represented the past when she rode into the dressage team competition on a horse called “Es Fangar’s Samba King.”

The 36-year-old daughter of King Vajiralongkorn was unable to add a medal to the crown jewels due to Thailand’s fifth-place finish, which was behind gold-winning India. However, she may have another opportunity in the solo event on Thursday.

“Luckily our father is supporting us,” said the princess, who represented Thailand in badminton at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar and equestrian at Incheon in 2014. “He has always said, ‘Go for it! You want to do it? Do it. He knows that what drives my heart is horses and badminton.” 

In another news, In their first appearance at a multi-sport competition since Jakarta five years ago, the North Korean delegation made a big impression.

After losing out on the gold medal on Monday, three North Korean shooters stood apart from their South Korean competitors in a group photo of medal winners.

Because of anti-doping breaches, North Korea’s flag is supposed to be prohibited from flying at any big events outside of the Olympics, yet it has flown triumphantly during the Games.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) was the subject of a “compliance procedure” against the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to their statement. The OCA remained silent.

The South Korean delegation has also received attention because to the behavior of its athletes.

On Sunday, women’s 48-kg judoka Lee Hye-kyeong was disqualified for punching a Kazakh opponent in the face during their match, and on Monday, men’s tennis player Kwon Soon-woo threw a massive fit after losing to a much lower-ranked Thai opponent and destroyed his racket.

According to a South Korean tennis federation official who spoke to Yonhap on Tuesday, Kwon, who also declined the post-match handshake, visited Thailand’s training facility to express his regret.