Esports has taken a historic step towards becoming an Olympic discipline after becoming a medal discipline at the Asian Games, currently underway in China.
Thousands of fans have flocked to see the stars of, among other things, League of Legends. Videos show how the game’s biggest star, South Korean Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, has to get help to get past the crowds at the airport.
Many of the fans are women, but among the participants the distribution looks different. According to AFP, only eight of the 500 participants in the e-sports competition are women.
– In many competitions, it is men who break ground, and then after a slow expansion, they let women compete, says one of the female supporters on site to the news agency.
Women are not given the same opportunities
Women in eSports have a long history of not being given the same opportunities as men. One example was Overwatch player Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon, who made a big impression in 2016.
Instead of being signed by one of the top teams, she had to endure cheating allegations, because many believed that a woman cannot be that good at the game, writes AFP.
The eSports competitions during the Asian Games involve players from 30 countries, competing in seven different games.
READ MORE: Ninjas in Pajamas stars defy Ukraine directive
Follow Expressen E-sport on Youtube, Facebookand Twitter!
2023-09-25 09:43:40
#women #historic #competition #Asian #Games
