(The 3rd CIIE) Dialogue with the Chairman of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation Huo Qigang: The long development of electronic sports in the Olympics is inseparable from China

　　China News Online, November 5th, title: Dialogue with the Chairman of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation Huo Qigang: The long development of electronic sports in the Olympics is inseparable from China

　　China News Service reporter Li Jiajia

　　Shanghai, the smoke of the 2020 League of Legends Global Finals has just disappeared, and the curtain of the third China International Import Expo has been slowly opened. For the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF), which is participating for the first time, this year is destined to be significant Extraordinary, because it is about to become a strategic partner of the CIIE and leap onto a broader stage in one fell swoop.

　　"The development of e-sports in Asia is inseparable from China." Because of the new crown epidemic, the chairman of the Asian e-sports Federation Huo Qigang was not able to visit the Expo site in person. However, he still expressed his right in an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com recently. The high expectation of participating in the exhibition, "I am very happy and cherish the in-depth cooperation with the CIIE this time."

　　"The CIIE will have a great impact. Through this platform, I hope to reach more stakeholders. Electronic sports is no longer a niche thing, but a part of popular sports."

　　In 2017, Huo Qigang said shortly after he became the chairman of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation, "E-sports not only includes the e-sports competitions we have seen, but also includes drones, artificial intelligence, robot competitions and so on. It is a broader concept".

At that time, e-sports was facing the challenge of how to change the public's inherent concept of the sport, and how to let the public know that e-sports is not simply "playing games" has become a top priority.

　　In the past three years, e-sports and even e-sports with a broader concept than e-sports are no longer what it used to be.

Under the epidemic this year, traditional sports events have been suspended due to the epidemic, but the speed of electronic sports "breaking the circle" is accelerating.

　　The "2020 Global E-sports Sports Industry Development Report" recently released by Penguin Think Tanks and other institutions shows that during the epidemic, there were about 26 million new Chinese e-sports users.

Among them, driven by their partners and children, more women and older users have turned from "e-sports knowers" to "event viewers."

　　The prosperity of the industry has made the Asian Electronic Sports Federation more enterprising, and they urgently need to use a larger stage to make more noise.

　　Huo Qigang said: "The China International Import Expo is an international event with China's home diplomacy and global influence. It is highly valued both at home and abroad. This year is also very special for me, because this is the first time that the Asian Electronic Sports Federation participated. In the CIIE, participating companies will showcase their brand power around three topics: youth sports training, the integration of e-sports and traditional sports, and the two-way development of competitive sports and mass sports, which will be of great help to AESF in promoting e-sports."

　　He pointed out that e-sports far exceeds the game itself. Although it is a competitive event, it has great economic value and development potential. In addition to bringing considerable economic benefits, it can also promote related industries such as game software development and computer hardware production. And other development.

Take Hong Kong as an example. In the past, the Hong Kong government allocated 100 million Hong Kong dollars to support the overall development of e-sports in Hong Kong, provide venues for e-sports competitions, and support the industry to develop technology and talent training to promote the development of e-sports.

　　"The most important thing to develop any industry is to cultivate talents," Huo Qigang said. The Asian E-Sports Federation is also actively signing cooperation with universities, hoping to promote more talents, especially young people, to participate in this industry and find themselves in this industry. A way to the future.

　　At the same time, the Asian Electronic Sports Federation is actively promoting electronic sports to become an official event of the Olympic Games.

In 2018, under the promotion of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation, e-sports became the performance item of the Jakarta Asian Games, which was a major leap in the history of e-sports.

　　"We very much hope that e-sports can enter the Olympic Games, but this is not our only goal. We also understand that this process will be very long and there is a lot of work that we need to do." Huo Qigang also said, "The epidemic has affected all countries, China No exception, but our country’s ability to continue to host the CIIE also represents China’s economic vitality can continue. I hope that by participating in the CIIE, more people can understand our mission. I also hope that through the Asian Electronic Sports Federation This platform works with stakeholders from all walks of life to promote the development of electronic sports." (End)