Chinese media has recently reported that the country’s esports association is planning to re-establish the “China League of Legends National Team,” gathering the most famous local stars from the LPL to participate in a major national esports event set to kick off later this year.
Specific details about this tournament have not been widely revealed, but it is known that this esports event will feature teams from three countries: Japan, South Korea, and China. For this national-scale tournament, participating teams will not be esports organizations; instead, each country will select players to form its own national team.
The only time that League of Legends was formed as a “national team” was during the 2018 Asian Games. In that tournament, the China League of Legends team defeated the South Korean League of Legends team in the finals with a score of 3-1 to win the gold medal in the League of Legends category (although esports events at the Asian Games were only considered demonstration sports).
As reported, Riot Games recently incited outrage among the Chinese online community when they released a poster that seemed to “tease” the China-Korea Grand Battle – Mid-Season LCK LPL Mid-Season Event, featuring three out of four representatives from the LPL teams being South Koreans.
With the results from the 2018 Asian Games, the Chinese believe that the capabilities of local players in the LPL are actually on par with those of South Korean players, even though the two World Championship titles of the LPL still bear a strong mark of Koreans.
The esports event taking place at the end of this year (expected to be held right after the 2020 World Championship) will be a rare opportunity for League of Legends in China to affirm their absolute dominance.
However, it is quite unfortunate that sources from China have confirmed that their “League of Legends national team” this year will not include Uzi – a name who has been out of competition for over six months.
At the 2018 Asian Games, Uzi was the most crucial player who helped China defeat South Korea with an overwhelming score of 3-1. However, age and injury issues have prevented him from competing regularly for nearly two years, and of course, his form has not been stable.
Instead, the China League of Legends team for 2020 remains a promising name with many young talents like Tian, Knight, JackeyLove…