Asian Games Esports Day One in Nagoya: From the Roar of Gran Turismo 7 to the Absence of League of Legends — a Veteran Esports Fan’s Nagoya Viewing Notes#

By Zhanlan Yingren (NTGame Art Editor)

Today is September 23, 2026, and the first competition day of esports at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games is officially underway.

Sitting in front of my screen, watching the cameras sweep across Hall D of Aichi Sky Expo, my feelings are honestly a little complicated. As a veteran of domestic Chinese online games who has been playing all the way from the Stone Age era to today, I am used to seeing Chinese esports squads show up on every kind of stage. This time, though, there is one slot on the Nagoya program that has become the biggest knot in my chest — the spot China left open.

League of Legends — China is not fielding a team in this event at these Games.

That is the starting point of this viewing diary. There is no Chinese team on stage on day one in Nagoya, but I still want to walk through the storylines, the regrets, and the hopes of this edition’s Asian Games esports program from a fan’s-eye view, piece by piece.

1. First, Day One: Gran Turismo 7 and eFootball Warm Up the Room#

The Nagoya Asian Games esports program runs from September 23 to October 2, 2026, all of it staged at Hall D of Aichi Sky Expo. This edition features 11 official medal events, and those 11 events together produce 13 gold medals.

The slate for September 23 — that is, today — puts two “non-China” events on stage first:

A note for readers back home: Japan local time runs one hour ahead of Beijing time, and the times above are Japan local — which works out to roughly 08:00 onward in Beijing on the same day. In other words, if you want to follow the Gran Turismo 7 final, you need to be parked in front of a screen in the morning.

From my own viewing standpoint, using racing and football to “warm up the room” is actually thoughtful programming. Racing esports put engine roar, tire squeal, and grandstands flashing past on screen; football esports deliver end-to-end transitions and the full-arena roar that greets every goal. These two genres have the lowest viewing barriers of all and are the easiest to get swept up in on atmosphere alone. A sim racer like Gran Turismo 7 in particular is one of the tightest fusions of “car culture” and “electronic competition” there is — you do not need to understand a single complex mechanic; one bellow of the engine tells you what “speed and passion, made competitive” means.

And that brings out a core trait of this edition’s esports program: a scaled-up, multi-genre lineup.

2. Eleven Events, From MOBA to Shooters to Fighting Games — the Asian Games’ Full Garden#

If I had to sum up this edition of Asian Games esports in Nagoya in one sentence, I would say: it is the most genre-rich banquet the program has ever laid out.

Compared with the previous edition — the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, with its 7 esports events: League of Legends, Honor of Kings Asian Games version, Peace Elite Asian Games version, DOTA2, Dreams of Three Kingdoms 2, Street Fighter 5, and FIFA Online 4 — Nagoya expands the program straight to 11 events, clear evidence that esports’ voice inside the Asian Games system keeps rising.

The 11 official events are:

Take a close look at the span of that list — from MOBAs that demand five people coordinating map resources as a unit (League of Legends, Honor of Kings), to the shooter genre that tests aim and rotational decisions (Peace Elite Asian Games version), to a one-versus-four asymmetric game (Identity V Asian Games version), wuxia melee action (Naraka: Bladepoint), football simulation (eFootball), sim racing (Gran Turismo 7), hardcore fighting (Street Fighter 6 / Tekken 8 / KOF XV) — even the puzzle title Puyo Puyo Champions squeezed its way into the official program.

As an old player, seeing the fighting games bundled into a single “fighting team event” — with three classic fighting franchises, Street Fighter, Tekken, and King of Fighters, packaged together — left me a little moved. Street Fighter 5 already appeared in Hangzhou, and now Nagoya has grown the fighting category further, which says the Asian Games organizers genuinely want to show esports’ “diverse competitiveness”, not merely parade the hottest MOBAs onto the stage.

Behind these 11 events stand 11 entirely different competitive logics and 11 separate ecosystems of elite players, each with its own scene. For an ordinary viewer, it means that across a ten-day program you can watch the cold precision of racing, the explosiveness of fighting games, the team tug-of-war of MOBAs, and the psychological chess of asymmetric competition — and that richness is exactly what esports, as a “sport”, was always supposed to look like.

3. China Enters Only Four Events: Strategic Focus, or a Forced Hand?#

Having laid out the spectacle, we come back to the Chinese squad.

This time, the Chinese esports national training squad sent 23 athletes and 4 coaches — but they are competing in only 4 events: Honor of Kings, Peace Elite Asian Games version, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Identity V Asian Games version.

That is a change worth savoring.

Looking back at Hangzhou, China went 4 golds and 1 bronze in esports, with the golds coming from Honor of Kings, Dreams of Three Kingdoms 2, Peace Elite, and DOTA2, and the bronze from League of Legends. Back then, China did claim a medal in League of Legends — the finish stopped at bronze, but it was a very real moment on the podium.

Now in Nagoya, China has invested all 4 of its entries in the events where it is strongest and most storied. Honor of Kings and Peace Elite Asian Games version, as defending champions, received direct berths into the main draw without even playing qualifiers; Naraka: Bladepoint and Identity V Asian Games version fought their way out of the qualifiers to claim their main-draw seats.

All of this sends one very clear message: China’s strategy is concentrated resources, all-in on the strongest events.

As competitive strategy, it is clever. Rather than spreading effort across 11 events — blooming everywhere while rooting nowhere — it pours a limited roster of athletes, coaching resources, and training time entirely into the 4 events with the best gold prospects. Twenty-three athletes and 4 coaches carrying 4 events was never going to be a roomy operation; concentration is the rational choice.

But from the sentimental angle, behind all that “rationality” there is a trace of bitterness — especially when those 4 events do not include League of Legends.

4. The League of Legends Absence: For the First Time Since Esports Joined the Games, China Is Not in the Bracket#

This is the section where my emotions are the most tangled.

League of Legends occupies a singular place in Chinese esports history. It is not only one of the biggest games in the country by player base; it is the formative memory of an entire generation. From the Hangzhou bronze to complete absence in Nagoya, that drop is not something a phrase like “strategic adjustment” can lightly paper over.

First, the fact that needs stating: this is the first time since esports became an official medal discipline that China has missed the Asian Games League of Legends event. In other words, for the first time ever, there will be no players wearing the Chinese team jersey on an Asian Games League of Legends stage.

I turned this section over many times while writing. I cannot produce an official verdict on “why China is absent” the way one checks a reference, because the fact card holds no explicit explanation either. So I can only speak from a veteran player’s instinct:

The regret is real.

In Hangzhou, China took bronze in League of Legends. The team did not reach the top step, but that bronze was a genuine result, a coordinate that Chinese League of Legends left on the Asian Games stage. Today the schedule still lists the League of Legends closing final on October 2 — but on that day, there will be no Chinese team in the arena. That feeling of “the event is here, but our people are not” is hard for anyone who cares about this event to shake off easily.

But cooled down, I also understand the choice behind it.

As noted above, China has only 4 berths, and all 4 went to the events with surer odds. With finite resources, consolidating investment that was once spread across many events into the titles with the highest win probability is itself a rational competitive decision. Rather than trading blows head-on with strong League of Legends programs like South Korea and Chinese Taipei, it makes sense to concentrate the firepower on Honor of Kings, Peace Elite, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Identity V — the events where China has the most tradition and the deepest confidence.

So I read the League of Legends absence as a “strategic concession” — not a dismissal of the event, but a decision to spend limited resources where they are most likely to win glory for the country.

5. China’s Four Gold Windows: One Timetable, Four Hard Fights#

Regret filed away, we return to the most hopeful part. Here is the key schedule for China’s 4 events, organized into one table for easy marking (the organizers’ timetable below, referenced to Beijing time):

(Note: the specific roster of Chinese athletes for Naraka: Bladepoint has not been verified and was not disclosed in the fact card, so it is not listed here.)

5.1 Naraka: Bladepoint: the likeliest “first gold”, and the match I want most#

On September 24, Naraka: Bladepoint runs its semifinals and final first, a day many media outlets have projected as China’s “first-gold day” of these Games.

I have a personal soft spot for this event. It is a domestic wuxia action competition game, and its cold-weapon combat design gives it both the blade-and-shadow flavor of classical wuxia and the mechanical depth of modern esports. As an old player who grew up soaking in wuxia MMOs, seeing a domestic wuxia competitive game step onto the Asian Games stage fills me with a pride that feels like genuine cultural export.

And the fact that Naraka: Bladepoint fought out of the qualifiers into the main draw says Chinese players carry real competitive weight in this event. In wuxia-themed competition, Chinese players’ feel for weapon rhythm and movement duels is usually a natural advantage. So on September 24, I will be watching to the very end.

5.2 Honor of Kings: a seeded defending champion opens its title defense#

September 28 brings the knockouts and the final for Honor of Kings.

As the gold medal event of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Honor of Kings Asian Games version enters the main draw directly as defending champion, brimming with confidence. And there is one very concrete storyline in China’s draw and opposition: China landed in Group D, with Laos first up.

On the format: the Honor of Kings final is a BO7 (best-of-seven), while the group stage, quarterfinals, and semifinals use BO3 (best-of-three) single round-robin play. That staircase design — “an easy group stage, a fully loaded final” — means China has to fight through the bracket and settle everything in the BO7 final. For a mobile MOBA whose individual games move at breakneck pace, a BO7 is an enormous test of stamina, mentality, and in-series adjustment.

China’s staffing for this event is coach Li Tuo leading athletes Wang Ke, He Weijia, Meng Jiajun, Zhao Haoyu, Xu Bicheng, and Huang Yaoqin — 6 players in total. Those 6 carry the full weight of a gold medal defense.

5.3 Peace Elite Asian Games version: another defending champion’s fight for gold#

September 29 is final day for Peace Elite Asian Games version.

Like Honor of Kings, Peace Elite Asian Games version is also a Hangzhou gold event, likewise seeded directly into the main draw as defending champion. Tactical shooters test gunskill, rotation decisions, and team coordination — and with Peace Elite commanding a massive domestic player base, the competitive soil beneath Chinese players in this genre is extremely deep.

China’s coach for this event is Li Yang, with athletes Liu Jinshan, Li Haokui, He Jianghong, Chen Yumeng, and He Ruibo — 5 players in all. Five people carrying an entire tactical-shooter campaign: a notably lean, tight roster.

5.4 Identity V Asian Games version: the asymmetric dark horse that swam through the qualifiers#

September 30 brings the knockouts and final for Identity V Asian Games version.

Of the four events, this is the one whose look always felt “a little different” to me. Identity V is an asymmetric competition game — one side hunts as the hunter, the other side plays survivors trying to escape — and that one-versus-many core mechanic is highly unusual among traditional symmetric esports. It tests not just mechanics but psychological chess and strategic judgment, and its spectator appeal is utterly distinctive.

Identity V Asian Games version earned its main-draw seat by fighting through the qualifiers, which says China carved out a path even in this comparatively niche event. China’s coach for this event is Zhu Tianlong, with athletes Shi Xiangwei, Lu Shujia, Sun Le, Chen Mingming, Lu Yahui, Fan Siqi, and Mu Xinyue (female) — 7 players in total. This is also the only Chinese event fielding a female athlete, and Mu Xinyue’s selection is one reason I am watching this event with extra attention — in asymmetric competition, male and female players each hold their own advantages across the role split, and seeing a female player on the Asian Games esports stage feels to me like a footnote to esports becoming truly “for everyone”.

6. The Format Shift: One Day Decides It, and Low Error Tolerance Exposes Real Strength#

While reading through the four schedules, I noticed a trait of this edition’s esports program that stands out sharply: the format is highly concentrated — the overwhelming majority of events must complete their semifinal and final within a single day.

Look at the run of days — Naraka: Bladepoint plays its semifinal and final back-to-back, Honor of Kings plays knockouts and final on the same day, and Identity V Asian Games version does exactly the same. This “one day decides it” rhythm is nothing like the traditional sports cadence of a stretched-out group phase and a gradual knockout ladder.

For players, it means one thing: the error tolerance is extremely low.

There is almost no room to “find your touch in the group stage and peak in the knockouts”. Your group-stage form may well be your final form; the fatigue of a semifinal dragged to three games can follow you straight onto the final stage. It is a brutally demanding exam of stamina reserves, in-game adjustment, and mental fortitude. Honor of Kings is the sharpest case: BO3 in the group stage and quarterfinals, then a straight jump to BO7 in the final — a single-day intensity cliff from short series to long series that drains concentration fast.

From the viewing angle, though, this compressed schedule carries its own kind of charm — the “condensation” of it all. You do not need to follow ten straight days; be in front of a screen at the right hours and you can watch everything from the semifinal to the gold medal landing. For busy domestic viewers, that is actually a friendly design: remember the few key dates, set the alarms, and you can watch China’s gold-medal moments start to finish in one sitting.

But precisely because of that, let me press the point once more: block out those gold-rush days in advance. Because once missed, they may truly be missed.

7. Closing: the Weight of Gold, and the Missing Piece of the Puzzle#

As an old player who has watched esports for more than twenty years, my emotions on this day are honestly mixed.

On one hand, I feel both understanding and admiration for the strategic choice the Chinese squad made at these Games. Twenty-three athletes and 4 coaches, with every ounce of firepower concentrated on the 4 events — Honor of Kings, Peace Elite, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Identity V. That “concentrated superiority” playbook is rational and pragmatic. Naraka: Bladepoint’s wuxia identity, the defending pedigree of Honor of Kings and Peace Elite, Identity V’s asymmetric hook — every one of these events is a battlefield Chinese players are worth sending troops into. September 24, September 28, September 29, September 30 — on all four days, I will be at the screen, cheering for the Chinese players.

On the other hand, I cannot pretend not to see the empty slot where League of Legends should be. That game is my generation’s youth — the years of queuing with friends in net cafes and watching matches on stream. Under the city lights, so many of us grew up watching League of Legends from dorm rooms, net cafes, and esports bars. With no Chinese team on the Asian Games stage for it, that taste is not something the words “rational decision” can fully soothe.

But I am willing to convert that regret into expectation. I look forward to ten, twenty years from now, when esports has grown further inside the Asian Games system, to more events and more Chinese players standing on that stage — so that today’s “absence” becomes the prologue to a full-scale return.

The esports competition in Nagoya formally began this morning with the roar of Gran Turismo 7. Listen — that is an engine bellowing, and it is the sound of a new competitive sport accelerating.

May the Chinese squad, in Nagoya, play out a brilliance that is entirely our own.

— Zhanlan Yingren, NTGame Art Editor, on day one of esports at the Nagoya Asian Games

(Fact sources for this article: the JeSU official published schedule, plus public reporting from Toutiao, Sina Sports, Weibo, and other outlets; specific schedules, events, and rosters are subject to the final releases of the organizing committee and official sources. Statements in this article such as “first gold” and “gold favorite” are media views or personal judgment, not official positions.)