In 2023, alongside the matches in domestic leagues and further afield like the MSI and World Championship, another tournament that fans of League of Legends in Asia are eagerly anticipating is the ASIAD – the Asian Games, which will take place at the end of 2023 as a replacement for last year’s event that was postponed due to the pandemic. This will be the first time that Esports in general and League of Legends specifically will have the opportunity to compete for real gold medals in one of the largest traditional sporting events in the continent.
Of course, focusing solely on League of Legends, the LCK (Korea) and LPL (China) regions remain the two strongest contenders for the gold medal. The clash between these two regions is sure to be highly anticipated and incredibly exciting. Notably, players like Faker are eagerly looking forward to the gold medal from this tournament to legitimately fulfill the special military service obligations as stipulated by the land of the morning calm.
However, recently, according to a post from a viewer, a list of potential players selected for the ASIAD training squad has emerged. According to this, there will still be 10 names, but there have been changes compared to last year. They include: Kiin/Zeus (Top), Peanut/Canyon (Jungle), Faker/Chovy (Mid), Gumayusi/Deft (ADC), and Keria/BeryL for the Support position. In this list, Oner is the only T1 player absent.
At first glance, these choices seem quite reasonable. While Doran performed well in the finals, comparing his overall Spring Split journey, he struggles against the two colleagues. Oner also did not have a particularly strong Spring compared to Peanut or Canyon. The positions of Faker and Chovy are indisputable.
Meanwhile, the four chosen names for the Bot Lane are all very reasonable. Because Peyz – Delight has only recently shone and completely lacks international competition experience. Meanwhile, the talent of Gumayusi – Keria or the championship duo Deft – BeryL is beyond question. In fact, Peyz – Delight would not have completely conquered the Gumayusi – Keria duo in the recent finals without the continuous support of Chovy – Peanut and Doran stabilizing the top lane.
In reality, this list may still change as it is certain that not all 10 players can participate in ASIAD. According to KeSPA’s announcement, there will be training sessions and final team selections for ASIAD. But if the above list is accurate, these would be the optimal choices to bring home the gold for Korean League of Legends at the upcoming Asian Games.