HANGZHOU: Malaysia’s wait for a first gold medal at the Asian Games has been further delayed, as the Arena of Valor esports team was unable to break the great Chinese Wall in the final today.
In the gold medal decider at the 4,500 capacity China Hangzhou E-Sports Centre, the hosts’ representatives had the upper hand with a strong home crowd support to notch a 2-0 win against the Malaysian team in the mobile-based strategy game developed by TiMi Studio Group.
The Malaysian team of Lai Chai Chein, Nicholas Ng, Yong Zhang Quan, Ong Jun Yang, Eng Jun How, and Chong Han Hui was subdued by China, comprising of Sun Linwei, Luo Siyuan, Chi Xiaoming, Xu Bicheng, Jiang Tao, and Li Heng for the historic gold as esports made its Asian Games debut as a medal event.
Esports was hosted as a demonstration event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
Malaysia advanced to the final after beating Vietnam 2-0 in the semifinals yesterday, while China ousted Thailand with the same score.
Earlier, Thailand beat Vietnam 2-0 to clinch the bronze.