Newly elected Asian e-Sports Federation president Kenneth Fok Kai-kong says his organization is committed to pursuing Olympic status for computer gaming while also adopting the regulatory trappings of more traditional sports.
Addressing journalists a day after his election to the federation's top post, Fok said the continent was "at the crossroad" of the increasingly popular electronic sports, which are dominated by multiplayer computer and console games.
Designed Photo
"Our vision for the federation is to have e-Sports recognized as an Olympic sport, and that is clear," Fok said on the sidelines of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
"We have to go about seeing e-Sports as a traditional sport."
Hong Kong's Fok was elected to his post unopposed after Kazakhstan's veteran sports administrator Natalya Sipovich voluntarily stepped down after a decade in the position.
Fok Kai-kong, File Photo
As a rising star in the Olympic Council of Asia and the son of Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, the 38-year-old Oxford graduate brings fresh clout to the role. But Fok also said e-Sports must "face up" to cynicism over whether gaming can be considered a sport and adopt regulations on doping and fair play in line with International Olympic Committee standards.
Fok faces a challenge to accelerate the sport's development ahead of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, when it will be a medal sport for the first time in what is seen as an important step towards Olympic recognition.
E-Sports made its debut at the Asian Indoor Games - a secondary OCA tournament featuring a number of non- Olympic disciplines - in Macau in 2007. The e-Sports tournament in Ashgabat will take place from Monday and will see multiplayer tournaments of popular computer games such as Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Dota 2 and the King of Fighters XIV.