The Olympic Council of Asia has announced the inclusion of esports as a medal discipline in the third Asian Youth Games to be played in Bahrain from 22 to 31 October 2025.
This will be the first time esports has been included in the Asian Youth Games and the esports athletes will get to join young sportspersons from 20 other sports disciplines across 45 member countries within the age group of 14-17 years.
Esports Federation of India (ESFI) director and Asian Esports Federation (AESF) VP Lokesh Suji shared, “The Asian Youth Games is another prestigious platform which has now recognised esports as a competitive discipline. With esports already being part of Asian Games as a medal sport, this move will pave the way for greater opportunities and support for grassroots and talent identification of esports athletes and help to build a holistic esports ecosystem for competitive gaming.”
India has previously won at global esports events, with the League of Legends team finishing fifth in the 2022 Asian Games, a silver medal in Tekken 8 at the BRICS Esports Championship and a bronze medal in eFootball at the Asian Esports Games 2024.
Esports has already been featured in Asian Games, Asian Indoor Games and will be featured in the upcoming inaugural Olympic Esports Games later this year.
