Alongside the intense showdowns at domestic leagues, or the highly anticipated matches at the World Championship (Worlds) 2023, another tournament that is also gaining attention is the ASIAD taking place in Hangzhou at the end of the year. With Esports having the opportunity to compete for medals for the first time, this tournament will be watched even more closely than before. Specifically for League of Legends, it will still be a contest between two representatives from LCK and LPL.
Recently, the LPL announced the official lineup for the upcoming ASIAD tournament. Accordingly, the 6 players participating in this tournament will include: 369 and Bin (Top Lane), Jiejie (Jungle), Knight (Mid Lane), JackeyLove (AD Carry), and Meiko (Support). The head coach of the team will be KenZhu, who is also currently leading Edward Gaming (EDG) with two members Jiejie and Meiko. Previously, LPL sent Team WE to participate in the Road to ASIAN Games 2022, so the official lineup at that time remained a big question mark.
However, if this lineup were chosen at the end of 2022, it would make complete sense. The only problem is that at this point, many player positions do not satisfy fans in the billion-people country. The two most contentious positions are Jiejie and Meiko. As for Jiejie, it is clear that he is no longer in the same form as when he led EDG to victory at Worlds 2021. In fact, some fans believe that if Tian were not struggling with psychological issues and easily discouraged when criticized, the Top Esports player would be more deserving than Jiejie.
Similarly, Meiko, despite being a veteran player in the LPL, is currently considered to be in an unstable form. Many believe that Coach KenZhu and the LPL selection committee chose Jiejie and Meiko simply because they are from the same team. Numerous opinions have expressed regret for more stable-performing players who were overlooked, such as ON and Wei.
However, it is possible that in the near future, these players will regain the necessary form. Therefore, LPL fans need to stay calm and give the players more time to prove that they truly deserve to be part of the lineup for ASIAD Hangzhou and compete for the gold medal in League of Legends.