Filipino gamers struggle early in Asiad

HANGZHOU, China — Filipino gamer Jorrell Aristorenas suffered a 0-2 loss to Brunei bet Rashed Alrowaihi at the start of the EA Sports FC Online competitions of the 19th Asian Games here late Sunday.

The 29-year-old, London-born Aristorenas, who also dabbles in football as a Stallion FC player, dropped to the lower bracket, where he will meet India's Charnjot Singh.

Some 36 players representing 22 teams are competing at the 5,000-capacity China Hangzhou Esports Centre for the right to be crowned the inaugural Asian Games' esports champion.

Alrowaihi advanced to the second round of the upper bracket, with Thai player Teedech Saisakul and Ali Al Hammadi of the United Arab Emirates.

Park Gi Yong of Korea also reached the second round with Hong Kong's Fan Cheuk Wa and Li Jian Cheng of China.

In the Arena of Valor action, Thailand's Vatcharanan Taworn took down the Miguel Banaag-led Philippine Sibol team, 1-0, to move up in Group D.

Meanwhile, Filipino gamer Ross Villarin plunges into action in the Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Round of 32 Match 4 on Tuesday against Chantasriviroje Sitta.

After debuting in the Asian Games as a demo event in 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia, Esports is coming in as a regular sport, expected to be the most watched in the games' calendar.

Asian Games feature five PC games and two mobile games, covering both multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, and single-player genres.

Gamers will be pitting skills in League of Legends, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version (also known as Honor of Kings); Peace Elite Asian Games Version (also known as PUBG Mobile); Dota 2; Dream Three Kingdoms 2; Street Fighter V: Champion Edition; and EA Sports FC, which is also known as FIFA Online 4.