South Korean League of Legends team won the gold medal at Asian Games 2023, defeating Chinese Taipei in the grand finals, 2-0.
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, known as the League of Legends GOAT, was unable to play in the best-of-three (BO3) final against Taiwan due to illness.
Despite Faker's absence, his teammates stepped up and performed exceptionally well, securing two games against Taiwan with the help of Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk and Choi "Zeus" Woo-je, capping off a perfect run.
Meanwhile, the Chinese team, considered a strong gold medal contender, settled for bronze after narrowly beating Vietnam 2-1 in the bronze medal match.
To recall, this is Team South Korea's second League of Legends esports medal. At the 2018 Asian Games Jakarta Palembang, where esports is still a demo title, Korea won the silver medal after losing 3-1 to Team China in the final.
LoL 2023 Asian Games Rankings
19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 - League of Legends Grand Finals
GOLD MEDAL MATCH: South Korea vs. Chinese Taipei (2-0)
Game 1: South Korea (Win) vs. Chinese Taipei (Lose)
Game 2: South Korea (Win) vs. Chinese Taipei (Lose)
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH: China vs. Vietnam (2-1)
Game 1: China (Lose) vs. Vietnam (Win)
Game 2: China (Win) vs. Vietnam (Lose)
Game 3: China (Win) vs. Vietnam (Lose)
Hangzhou Asian Games League of Legends Event Rankings
1st Place - South Korea (Gold)
2nd Place - Chinese Taipei (Silver)
3rd Place - China (Bronze)
4th Place - Vietnam
South Korea Asian Games 2023 LoL roster
- Choi "Zeus" Woo-je (Top lane)
- Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok (Jungle)
- Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (Mid lane)
- Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon (Mid lane)
- Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk (Bottom lane)
- Ryu "Keria" Min-seok (Support)
- Kim "kkOma" Jeong-gyun (Coach)
Chinese Taipei Asian Games 2023 LoL roster
- Su "Hanabi" Chia-Hsiang (Top lane)
- Hung "Karsa" Hao-Hsuan (Jungle)
- Chu "FoFo" Chun-Lan (Mid lane)
- Chiu "Doggo" Tzu-Chuan (Bottom lane)
- Hu "SwordArt" Shuo-Chieh (Support)
- Chen "WarHorse" Ju-chih (Coach)
For the uninitiated, League of Legends is a popular 5v5 game where each team tries to destroy the other's base.
The esports competition at Asian Games 2023 features five PC games and two mobile games, representing both multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) and single-player genres.
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The esports lineup for the 19th Asian Games includes several popular games such as League of Legends (LoL), Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms (DTK) 2, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and EA Sports FC (also known as FIFA Online 4). In addition, it also includes the Asian Games versions of Arena of Valor (also known as Honor of Kings) and Peace Elite (also known as PUBG Mobile).
Image via KeSPA/Twitter