201306 by sungchul byun

NEWS BOARD Headline News

Asia, United into One with e-Sports - The 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games ended in great sucess. By Matthew Byun

T he 4th Asian Indoor & Martial arts Games

member national associations, which made the

Also, officials of each National Olympic

Incheon 2013 has been hosted in Incheon Korea

event distinguished from the past event as

Committee

from June 29 to July 6 with the slogan of

increasing the size of the participating nations.

Conference which was held during the same

12 sports events including e-sports.

Asia

period as 4th AIMAG, and showed great interest

“Diversity Shines Here”. In this event, 2,400 delegates from 44 Asian nations participated in

attended to IeSF 2013

IeSF, prior to submit its Sport Accord membership application, enacted the IeSF AntiDoping Regulations for e-sports, and had it approved by World Anti-Doping Agency 4th

(WADA). During the

AIMAG, doping

control has been conducted with respect to the IeSF Anti-Doping Regulations, and Mr. Alex Lim observed the process of the Doping Tests.

and passion toward establishing national esports governing bodies as well as obtaining IeSF membership. IeSF is attempting to make esports to be selected as the official sport discipline within diverse mega sports events through continuous cooperation with Olympic Councils such as OCA and EOC. Especially, IeSF is planning to endeavor for e-sports players to share same benefits which the athletes from general sports have been receiving.

Opening Ceremony of

4th

Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games

Within e-Sports events, 88 athletes from 13

As IeSF takes roles as the official international

Asian nations participated, and competed for

governing body for e-sports and get recognized

the 6 titles: FIFA 13, Special Force, Starcraft II, League of Legends, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Need for Speed.

by e-Sports Stadium at

4th

Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games

e-Sports has been selected as the official sports discipline for this mega-sports event for twice in a row, and for this time, International e-

sports

governing

bodies,

the

foundation for e-sports to be recognized as the

This event has signified to e-sports fans in the

official sport discipline is getting ready.

word that e-sport is not simple gaming activities

Actually, it has been proved through this 4th

but being positioned as one official sport

AIMAG that many of IeSF’s member national

discipline.

World

associations have obtained the recognition of

Gymnasium, the main stadium which held the

their National Olympic Committees. It is

opening and closing ceremonies, has been

expected that the support toward e-sports from

designated

NOCs in many countries will increase as IeSF

Especially,

the

Samsan

venue

for

e-sports

tournaments. Moreover, the tickets for e-sports Gold, Silver, Bronze Medals of 4th AIMAG

other

is entering the international sports society.

tournaments were all sold out every day on its pre-selling. Also, the broadcast of finals for

Mr. Won Suk Oh, the Secretary General of IeSF,

Starcraft II and League of Legends recorded

stated, “We will, once again, put our best effort

highest ratings online intertemporally.

to organize e-sports tournament in 5th Asian

Sports Federation (IeSF), as the official

Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 which will

counterpart of Olympic Council of Asia,

be held in Turkmenistan, and already started

supported and supervised the operation of e-

communication

sports event in general including selection of

regarding preparation of infrastructure for e-

game titles, dispatching international referees,

sports. Also, we will expand this framework to

technical officials and juries and technical

other continents including Europe and others.

support. Especially, IeSF supported organizing

We expect support and interest all of our fans

and dispatching national delegates with its G&e vol. July / 2013. 7. 19.

e-Sports fans filled the whole stadium of e-sports

with

Turkmenistan

NOC

and member national associations.”

IeSF News Inside IeSF

IeSF submitted its membership application to “Sport Accord” - IeSF is taking a new leap for being an official international sports governing body. By Alex Lim

4th of July, Thursday, International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) have

privileges of athletes in general sports and can advance to the occupations

finally submitted its membership application to Sport Accord. As finalized

derived from e-sports field. Furthermore, IeSF will continuously cooperate

its application with Mr. Byung Hun Jun, the President of IeSF, singing on

with other international sports governing bodies to make e-sports be

the application, IeSF have accomplished all required conditions for its

included within mega sports event hosted by various Olympic organizations

membership application.

such as Asia Indoor & Martial Arts Games. The result of approval for IeSF’s membership application to Sport Accord will be discussed and decided at the General Assembly of Sport Accord during the period of Sport Accord Convention which will be held on April 2014. Mr. Byung Hun Jun, the President of IeSF, speaks his aspiration, “IeSF’s Sport Accord membership application is the first step for e-sports to be recognized as one official sport discipline. Henceforth, we will actively negotiate with board of directors of Sport Accord, and through such effort, we will endeavor for all e-sports fans in the world to see e-sports to be recognized as official sport discipline by April 2014.” Also, Mr. Won Suk Oh, the Secretary General of IeSF, expressed his resolve, “Through the 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, we were able to see the positive perception of various national sports authorities from different countries toward e-sports. If we successfully make IeSF’s Sport Accord affiliation happen by 2014, we will develop new phase expanding e-sports not only in Asia but in Europe, America and Africa as the official sport discipline.”

Mr. Byung Hun Jun, the President of IeSF is signing on IeSF’s Sport Accord Membership Application

Sport Accord is the umbrella organization of international sports federations, such as FIFA, IAAF, FIBA, and FIVB, and 109 international sports governing bodies are affiliated to this organization as its members. Sport Accord supports proper sport disciplines for international and continental Olympic Games through cooperation with International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as other continental Olympic councils. Also, it supports “Olympic Movement” which advocated by IOC through winter and summer Olympic Games. IeSF’s affiliation to Sport Accord will upraise the authority of IeSF as the sole and representative international sports governing body for e-sports in the world, and it also interprets that e-sports is joining in the international sports society with the global recognition as one official sport discipline. Through the affiliation to Sport Accord, IeSF will support official sport-wise of e-sports in its 42 member nations, and will prepare the ground for e-sports players in the world where they can share benefits which have been

G&e vol. July / 2013. 7. 19.

Mr. Won Suk Oh , the Secretary General of IeSF is handing over the application to the Mr. Jun

IeSF News Inside IeSF

IeSF buckles down to e-sports diplomatic activity - IeSF gets its stride for e-sports to become an official sport discipline with diplomatic activity. By Alex Lim

taking the opportunity of hosting e-sports tournaments at 4th Asian

Mr. Jun, the President of IeSF, especially asked the Minister, “IeSF will

Indoor & Martial Arts Games, International e-Sports Federation (IeSF)

finalize the Sport Accord membership application procedure right after the

kicked into full implementation for “e-sports diplomacy”.

4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games is over. Since the newly elected

President of Sport Accord is originated from Romania, I would like to ask Mr. Nicolae Banicioiu the Minister of Youth and Sports of Romania as well as Mr. Mihai-Bogdan DIACONU, the member of Romanian Parliament visited Korea from 27th to 30th of June with the invitation of International eSports Federation. These key personnel expressed their strong intention to look around the scene of e-sports being involved in a mega sports event, and

for the full support of Romanian government and the Ministry of Youth and Sports for IeSF’s membership approval. Furthermore, since the IeSF 2013 World Championship is being hosted in Romania which possesses the world most enthusiastic e-sports fans, we expect to extend the relationship and exchange between Korea and Romania with e-sports.

IeSF with cooperation of the Romanian e-Sports Association and its President, Mr. Silviu Stroie, set up such ground for the valuable exchange between IeSF and National Sport Authority of Romania. On 27th of June, they had a meeting with Mr. Won Suk Oh, the Secretary General of IeSF, and received brief introduction about IeSF and current esports scene in the World including Asia and Korea. Then, on the following day, 28th of June, Mr. Byung Hun Jun, the President of IeSF, received a state visit from Mr. Nicolae Banicioiu, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Romania as well as Mr. Mihai-Bogdan DIACONU, the member of Romanian Parliament at his office in the National Assembly building in Korea. Mr. Calin Fabia, the Romanian Ambassador to Korea, and Mr. Silviu Stroie, the President of Romanian e-Sports Association, also joined the meeting.

Mr. Byung Hun Jun , the President of IeSF and Mr. Nicolae Banicioiu agreed for future cooperation

The Minister, Mr. Banicioiu answered for his request, “Among 20 million of Romanian population, the number of people who enjoy and are interested in e-sports is over 2million. It interprets that Romanians are no less enthusiastic to e-sports than Koreas are. The main purpose of my visiting to Korea this time is to learn more about the system of Korean e-sports as well as looking into the structure of e-sports being in mega sports event through this 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Also, I am sharing very close relationship with Mr. Marius Viser, the new President of Sport Accord. We will fully support IeSF for the successful affiliation to the Sport Accord.” Furthermore, both Mr. Jun and the Minister agreed on mutual cooperation

Such meeting imparts huge significance to both IeSF and e-Sports field. It

for e-sports to be slected as an official sport discipline within European

interprets that IeSF have established strong network with the Romanian

Games, of which inaugural event will be hled in Azerbaijan in 2015. IeSF

government to obtain support for development and promotion of e-sports in

also conducted mutual exchange with officials from Asian NOCs as well as

European region. Furthermore, Mr. Marius Viser, the President of Sport

others from several sports governing bodies during the period of 4th Asian

Accord newly elected on last May, is the former President of Romania Judo

Indoor & Martial Arts Games as well as hosting IeSF 2013 Asian

Federation as well as International Judo Federation, and is also sharing very

Conference in order to prepare the foundation of globalization and sport-

close relationship with the Minister, Mr. Nicolae Baniciou.

wise of e-sports.

G&e vol. July / 2013. 7. 19.

IeSF News Inside IeSF

A Consensus toward Sport Field, IeSF 2013 Asia Conference - More than 50 attendees from NOCs and NFs of 25 Asia Countries gathered for the future of e-sports By Jay Shin

D ring

the period of the 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games (2013

AIMAG), IeSF hosted “IeSF 2013 Asia Conference” in Songdo Convensia on 2nd July. The module of IeSF 2013 Asia Conference was slightly upgraded, as not only IeSF member association members, but members of NOC and national federation in non-member countries attended. In the conference, IeSF secretariat staffs shared the vision of IeSF and strategy for development of Asian e-Sports with attendees. Mr. Won Suk Oh, the Secretary General of IeSF, conducted the 1st presentation. In his presentation, he introduced the history of IeSF and the vision of IeSF, which can be regarded as “Sport Accord Affiliation Project.” The presentation of Mr. Oh provoked interests of NOC members as well as attendees from non-member countries, who have not been aware of the possibility of e-Sports in Sport field. Especially, attendees were encouraged with the fact that the submission of Sport Accord applicant was made.

Mr. Azat Muradov, the Secretary General of Turkmenistan Olympic Committee (on the Left Side)

Through the IeSF 2013 Asia Conference, IeSF expects to strike a balance between Europe and Asia continent, by accepting more Asia member countries. Also, IeSF will start the process of establishing Asia Confederation with cooperation of member countries by 2014 IeSF general meeting. After establishment of Asia Confederation, IeSF will attempt to make e-Sports adopted in Mega Sport Events in Asian regions, including AIMAG continuously. The Secretary General, Mr. Won Suk Oh speaks his aspiration, “It was a good chance for us that IeSF 2013 Asia Conference was attended by many Asian countries through 2013 AIMAG. Also, we were surprised with the huge interests of Sport Bodies in e-Sports. On behalf of IeSF, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all attendees.”

The 2nd presentation was led by Alex Lim from IeSF, with topic of the strategy of establishment of Asia e-Sports Confederation. Alex started his presentation by sharing the case of failure of former Asia Confederation, which was promoted without IeSF HQ and Olympic Council of Asia. After that, Alex showed the strategy of establishing new Asia Confederation with

The international coordinator of IeSF, Alex Lim expressed, “I am so pleased with the result which was much better than I expected. As we made a consensus with all members, we will try to make what was discussed today come true. This movement of Asia will be a good precedent to other continents in near future.”

transparency and good governance, requesting support of NOC and NF. Then, Jay Shin was handed over the final presentation, “2017 Asia Indoor & Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan (2017 AIMAG).” Jay started with the vision of AIMAG, as the 1st precedent of e-Sports in Mega Sport Event. And Jay expressed the necessity of support of NOCs and NFs in Asia as well as the host country, Turkmenistan. Mr. Azat Muradov, the secretary general of Turkmenistan NOC, sympathized with the responsibility for adopting e-Sports as the official discipline in 2017 AIMAG and agreed with making the 1st step, establishing National Federation in Turkmenistan.

G&e vol. July / 2013. 7. 19.

World Report Serbia & Vietnam

ASUS Gaming Challenge Belgrade - Delta City, Belgrade, was home to one of the biggest LAN events in Serbia and Balkans-ASUS Gaming Callenge. By Olivera Berić

I t went on from 7th to 9th of June, and

with a lot of participants, both domestic

and foreign, some even from the top of the gaming scene, and with biggest prize pool ever for a LAN event in Serbia, this tournament was nothing short of spectacular. Apart from gaming events, visitors could see a lot of other activities from the sphere of IT, like overclocking event and many others. E-Frag organization was covering entire event with live reports from the spot, interviews, pictures and 2 live streams for all gaming events, even establishing one stream in English because the demand for it was high as the Dota 2 tournament progressed. Our casters, photographers, and reporters did good job at making sure all of those , who couldn’t come and witness this great LAN event live, not miss a

finals with dominant performances. As the tournament was reaching its end, more and more people arrived both on streams, and live in front of the stage, where 4 big TV’s were placed to create a spectator area, which was very crowded. Finally in the end, 2 awesome grand final games between the best Serbian team iNfernity.rs and one of the best teams in the world Fnatic.eu, went the way of Fnatic with the result 2-0. It was a great beginning for their bootcamp in Belgrade, as they were handed 1st place awards from the tournament sponsors. iNfernity.rs were simply not up to the task, but performed very well and gave every Serbian Dota fan a team they can now cheer for in European Dota scene. Apart from gaming events, overclocking event took place on day two, which sparked interest from all technology fans which were visiting Asus Gaming Challenge. The event was also very successful , since

thing. Day one started a bit later then announced due to some minor technical difficulties and teams setting up, but the wait wasn’t long and Dota 2 tournament, as well as Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, could begin. Another success of this LAN event was the participation of Fnatic.eu, one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world, and also it was the first participation of a team of such caliber in any Serbian LAN event so far. Being absolute favorites for the tournament they finished the group stage with ease. Other teams played very well, and we saw a lot of interesting Dota 2 action, some games even being on a very high level and lasting up to 70 and more minutes. Just like Dota 2, PES 2013 tournament was going well, with some of the largest player count in any PES tournament in the region. At the end of the day we got our participants in knockout stage for Dota 2 tournament, which would continue the following day. Day two started right on schedule and the action got underway with Dota 2 quarter finals. Fnatic.eu were still being undefeated and secured their spot in the grand

we got couple of World Records broken! The whole event is complemented with numerous promotions and contests of the sponsor, so that visitors could try out the latest Razer products, enjoy a fantastic ride and competing in Grid2 or reveal exciting adventure Skylanders. The event was accompanied by the announcement of the preorder Diablo 3 that will soon be able to play on consoles. Final Day of the Asus Gaming Challenge featured World of Tanks tournament as well as the conclusion of PES 2013, and also one very interesting event called Free For All tournament. In it, anyone could compete for free in games Counter Strike 1.6, Quake 3 and Trackmania Nations. Top 5 players from each game received great rewards. After every event finally ended, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that this was truly one of the greatest LAN events in Serbia, and people are very excited at the prospect of having more and more similar events, and finally developing Serbian gaming scene.

University e-Sports Championship 2013 - Increase intelligence, Achieve the glory By Pham Van Thanh

U niversity

e-Sports Championship is an annually organized tournament for

students in all universities and colleges in Vietnam. UEC 2013, seen as the largest tournament ever in term of scale, for the first time has been taken place in both Hanoi and Hochiminh City with 4 subjects of competition, including FFOL2,

Mr. Phan Manh Ha, Deputy General Secretary of VIRESA, in a speech before Final round matches, stated that: “The success of UEC strongly depends on the enthusiastic love of thousands of students in Vietnam. That is the brand new generation of Vietnamese eSports. Our goal is simply that those eSport players will

WOT, CF and Space Cowboys. During 2 weeks (May 10th – May 24th), UEC drew

be able to participate and practice in a healthy sport environment, a true eSport

the amount of 8.000 online registrations approximately. From May 24th to May 28th,

atmosphere and subsequently become real elite eSport players.”

all participants did compete with the decisive spirits and professional manners in the areal final round in Hanoi and Hochiminh City.

About UEC: In 2011, although FFOL2 was the only subject of competition, UEC drew the attention of more than 300 participants who were students in the neighborhood of

The Award ceremony has recorded the attendance of representatives from the

Hochiminh City and the area nearby. UEC 2011 did bring a new stream to the

General department of Physical Education and Sports, the Hochiminh University of

community and left the first definition about eSport in students.

Physical Education and Sports and thousands of participants who truly love eSport

In 2012, CF and DotA were added, and subsequently, UEC did attract around 1000

in the city neighborhood.

student to take part in the tournament. Many gamers, such as Mino and

Successful organization and maintaining UEC to be an annual tournament is a great

NeverBackDown from DotA, Chau Tuan Hao from FFOL2, Creating Destiny and

effort that contribute greatly to the issue of eSport socialization and to bring a

Sinhto from CF had great contributions to those exciting and unforgettable Final

positive view of electronic recreation to the public.

competitions.

G&e vol. July / 2013. 7. 19.