South Korea LoL team wins gold at 2022 Asian Games: All results & recap

The 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou are finally underway. While many other esports tournaments are still underway, the LoL competition has come to a close, with South Korea taking the gold medal. Here is all you need to know about the tournament.

The prestigious multi-sport event was initially scheduled to take place in September 2022 but was postponed for a whole year because of health restrictions in place in the host city of Hangzhou at the time.

For the first time, esports is part of the Asian Games’ programme as a medal event. Seven games are being played in official competitions, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Street Fighter V and FIFA Online 4. (Hearthstone was initially part of the list before being excluded after negotiations between Blizzard Entertainment and Chinese publishing partner NetEase fell through.)

The League of Legends tournament came to an end on September 29, with South Korea winning the gold medal after beating Taiwan 2-0 in the grand final, capping off a perfect run that also included a victory over China in the semi-finals.

[항저우 아시안게임] 메달 소식

리그 오브 레전드 국가대표 선수들의 금메달을 축하합니다🌟

금메달리스트 최우제 서진혁 이상혁 정지훈 박재혁 류민석 선수에게 축하의 박수를 보내주세요🥳#항저우AG #팀코리아오브이스포츠 #최고_그_이상의_투지 pic.twitter.com/ZXjWG7EzTW

— 한국e스포츠협회 (KeSPA) (@kespa) September 29, 2023

The Chinese team, regarded as a strong contender for the gold, had to settle for the bronze medal, beating Vietnam 2-1 earlier in the day in a keenly contested series.

With this victory, the South Korean players will be granted exemptions from military service, which all able-bodied men must perform by age 28. This could prove particularly important for Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok as he approaches his 28th birthday.

As expected, the T1 star had to split playing time with Gen.G’s Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon in the tournament. Still trying to rediscover his best shape after sustaining a wrist injury, Faker played only one group game, with Chovy manning the mid lane for the remainder of the tournament.

Here is all you need to know about the 2022 Asian Games’ League of Legends tournament.

2022 Asian Games: Dates and format

The League of Legends tournament took place between September 25-29. The venue picked for the esports competition was the Hangzhou Esports Center, a state-of-the-art arena that accommodated over 4,000 spectators.

The schedule can be found below:

• Group Stage: September 25-26
• Quarter-Finals: September 27
• Semi-Finals: September 28
• Bronze Medal & Grand Final: September 29

The winners of the “Road to Asian Games” events from the East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South and West Asia regions earned direct entry into the playoff stage and skipped the group stage. These teams were China (East Asia), Malaysia (Southeast Asia), India (Central Asia), and Saudi Arabia (West Asia).

Group Stage (September 25-26):

• 11 teams were drawn into four groups.
• Teams faced each other once in Bo1 games.
• Group winners advanced to the playoffs.

Playoffs (September 27-29):

• The 4 group winners and the 4 seeded teams competed in a single-elimination bracket.
• All matches were Bo3 series.

2022 Asian Games: Schedule and results

Playoffs (September 27-29)

Day 1: September 27

Day 2: September 28

Day 3: September 29

Group Stage (September 25-26)

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Day 1: September 25

Day 2: September 26

2022 Asian Games: Teams and rosters

Fifteen national teams compete in the League of Legends tournament. Notably, South Korea was represented by a mix of players from T1, JD Gaming and Gen.G, with legendary coach Kim ‘kkOma’ Jeong-gyun leading the group.

The Chinese contingent, meanwhile, was made up of players from JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming and EDward Gaming. The team was coached by Zhu ‘KenZhu’ Kai, who won MSI 2022 with Royal Never Give Up and was part of EDG’s coaching staff during their 2021 Worlds-winning run.

Update: Singapore, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Myanmar, Jordan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and the Philippines have withdrawn from the tournament.