As we know, on September 5th (Vietnam time), the latest information about the ASIAD was shared by some LPL fans on various League of Legends (LoL) community forums. This information is highly accurate as the LPL is the region that will host ASIAD. Furthermore, this information seems to have been taken from a file system that many believe could be announcements sent by the ASIAD organizing committee to the participating teams for this tournament.
Besides using an older version, another format has raised concerns for many fans: every match in the group stage will only be a single BO1 in a round-robin scoring system, with only one team from each group advancing along with the seeded teams determined from the Road to Asian Games back in June. This format will surely feel familiar to many League of Legends fans, as it mirrors the previous group stage format of the World Championship. The only difference is that at ASIAD, each team will have only one match in the group stage with no return match.
This has raised an invisible concern. Surely many fans remember the “GAM earthquake” during the 2022 World Championship when the VCS representative defeated Top Esports – the LPL runner-up at that time. That loss for GAM was a direct cause that left TES with almost no chance of staying in the 2022 World Championship. Some have bluntly stated: “A ridiculous format. Just imagine teams like Korea losing and being eliminated due to a single game against Vietnam or Taiwan?”
But clearly, the ASIAD organizers have their reasons for this, and the teams must comply. Moreover, in an important tournament like ASIAD, the Korean representatives are seen as top contenders for the gold medal. If they stumble against representatives from Taiwan or even Vietnam and get eliminated, it would indeed be them who must take responsibility for not preparing as thoroughly as possible.