2021 Esports President's Cup: Indonesian National Sports Committee And Indonesian Esports Executive Board Prepare Esports To Be A Field For Athletes' Achievements

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Through the holding of the 2021 Esports President's Cup tournament, the Government of Indonesia has proven its commitment to continue to support and develop the esports ecosystem in Indonesia as one of the sport's achievements. Since it was first started in 2019, through this event, potential athletes have continued to emerge who then have a clear career path in the esports industry.

It is these talents that will continue to be explored and nurtured so that they continue to excel in bringing the nation's name to life in the future. The same thing is also done so that Indonesian professional esports teams can continue to have a clear competition system so that they can continue to live and develop.

This was raised in a media talk show with the theme "Building Esports Career Paths and National Achievements" which is part of the series of organizing the 2021 Esports President Cup, on Wednesday, November 24.

Present as speakers included the Secretary-General of Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) TB Ade Lukman, Head of Public Relations and Communication of PB Esports Indonesia (PBESI) Ashadi Ang, Esports Manager of Tencent Indonesia Agung Chaniago, Head of Brand Marketing MPL Layla Safira, and Secretary-General of the 2021 Esports Presidential Cup Matthew Airlangga.

On the occasion, Secretary-General of Central KONI TB Ade Lukman said KONI and PBESI under the coordination of the Ministry of Youth and Sports have prepared a design for the development and development of ecosystems and esports athletes, so that in the future they will be able to gain proud achievements in various regional and world championship events.

"We see esports in the future will soon enter the Olympics as well. So we must prepare this esports well, so that when we compete later we are really ready. Our athletes have won many Asian and even world championships. This is a potential for Indonesia not only to get medals from badminton or weightlifting, but from esports to also become a proud sport. The potential of the athletes is very good, it's just a matter of how we nurture them with training and a routine and tiered competition system," explained Ade Lukman in a written statement received by VOI, Monday, November 29.

He also said that KONI and PBESI have set a number of long-term and short-term targets related to the achievements that can be achieved by Indonesian esports athletes in regional events.

"In 2022 there will be the SEA Games in Vietnam and esports will be a sport to be competed in. We hope that our esports team will later contribute medals at the SEA Games. Then in September, there will be the Asian Games in Hangzhou as well as esports, of course, we hope that esports will also provide achievements there," he said.

The Head of Public Relations and Communication of PBESI Ashadi Ang said the same thing. According to him, although it was only formed in January last year, PBESI has moved quickly to develop a structured and tiered management and roadmap for esports management. This is important to ensure that potential esports athletes will continue to emerge who are able to achieve proud achievements.

In terms of coaching, Ashadi said, the PBESI is currently collaborating with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemdikbudristek) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) to include esports as an extra-curricular education at the junior high, senior high and vocational levels. Thus forming a foundation for the younger generation who want to pursue esports both as athletes and other related careers in the future.

Furthermore, the PBESI is also preparing a plan to build an esports training center which is a training center for esports athletes at both the National and Regional Training levels. In terms of talent scouting, the PBESI is also preparing what is called the national esports point system, as an indicator to determine which esports athletes can enter the National Training Center.

This will later be strengthened by a national competition system consisting of League 1, League 2, Amateur League, and other major and minor championships as well as community level tournaments.

"We want to create an esports ecosystem that is fair, equitable, structured, and sustainable. Previously at National Sports Week (PON) we have succeeded in competing in esports in Papua and the enthusiasm is extraordinary. So we believe that esports is not only in Java or big cities, but this will cover the whole country," said Ashadi.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the 2021 Esports Presidential Cup Matthew Airlangga expressed his optimism that the Esports President Cup event would be an important stepping stone for the development of esports as a field of achievement for Indonesia's young generation. He said, since it was first held in 2019, this event has become a barometer in seeing the development of esports in Indonesia.

Until now, the 2021 Esports President's Cup tournament has completed the closed qualifying round and will soon enter the open qualifying round before finally entering the grand final round in Nusa Dua, Bali, in December. A total of no less than 130 thousand esports athletes participated from various regions in Indonesia and more than three thousand matches have been held.