China wins bronze in League of Legends but all eyes on South Korea in gold-medal match

China’s League of Legends team hung on Friday to take bronze in Asian Games esports event, overcoming a strong challenge from Vietnam.

Once talked about as possible contenders for gold, China’s team was blanked Thursday by South Korea. South Korean team was powered by Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, a 27-year-old player known to most as League of Legends GOAT — Greatest Of All Time.

South Korea’s League of Legends team has yet to lose a game in tournament and takes on Taiwan later Friday in gold-medal match.

As global games market continues to boom in numbers of players and revenue, esports took its place this year at  Asian Games as a competition sport for first time and so far it has been an audience favorite. It is only event for which organizers have h to introduce a lottery system for tickets.

esports competition features five PC games and two mobile games, covering both multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, and single-player genres.

League of Legends is one of most popular games, where two teams of five champions face each or in a bid to destroy or’s base.

purpose-built 4,500-seat esports arena was packed for afternoon game between China and Vietnam, with onlookers watching gamers on a circular stage below, and following action on massive television screens above.

Some dressed as League of Legends champions as y cheered on ir team.

Vietnam’s team came out strong in first game of best-of-three series. China took out first champion in second game and dominated most of play to take win and even score at 1-1.

deciding match went back-and-forth, with China off to an early strong start. Vietnam battled back, sending a hush into hometown crowd. It wasn’t until about 28 minutes into game that China was able to effectively push ahe on offensive, in a surge that drew wild cheers from onlookers who excitedly waved multi-colored LED sticks in darkened room as ir team powered on to win and bronze medal.

Esports was first featured at last Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, as a demonstration sport and proved incredibly popular so was ded to  competition this year in Hangzhou.

In dition to League of Legends, lineup consists of: Arena of Valor Asian Games Version (also known as Honor of Kings); Peace Elite Asian Games Version (also known as PUBG Mobile); Dota 2; Dream Three Kingdoms 2; Street Fighter V: Champion Edition; and EA Sports FC (also known as FIFA Online 4).

Competition forms vary with genre but gold medals will be awarded for each game.

China took gold on Tuesday in Arena of Valor, with Thailand winning gold in EA Sports FC on Wednesday and South Korea winning gold in Street Fighter V on Thursday.

Newzoo, a research company that specializes in tracking global games market, projected in its annual analysis released last month that number of players worldwide will reach 3.38 billion in 2023, up 6.3% year-on-year. Annual revenues are expected to grow 2.6% to $187.7 billion.

International Olympic Committee has looked longingly at potential of video gaming and virtual sports to help attract and stay relevant with young audiences, and created a formal esports commission this month with a focus on virtual sports.