A competition to select a Vietnamese representative to compete in esports at the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games wrapped up in Ho Chi Minh City last weekend.

The event, Arena of Glory Winter 2019, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, saw six-member teams competing in the mobile game Arena of Valor, with the winner to represent Vietnam at Southeast Asia’s biggest sporting event in the Philippines in November.

Mocha ZD esports came back from three games down to defeat Team Flash 4-3 in the final game to secure the ticket to the Philippines.

It was a surprising result as Team Flash was the reigning world champion of the game, having won the 2019 Arena of Valor World Cup last month.

Esports, also known as electronic sports, is a form of competitive video gaming with multiple players battling against each other usually in teams, often in matches that are live-streamed to fans.

The Arena of Glory Winter 2019 was organized by the Vietnam Recreational Esport Association (VIRESA) and Vietnam Esports, a pioneering company in the field.

Esports is on the list of 56 sports to be contested at the 2019 SEA Games, the 30th edition of the biennial competition scheduled for November 30 to December 10 in the Philippines.

This will mark the first time it is going to be contested as a medal sport at a multi-sport competition sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.

Besides Arena of Valor, the esports category will feature five other events - Dota 2 and StarCraft 2 for the PC players, Mobile Legends for mobile, and Tekken 7 and Hearthstone for console gamers.

Esports was held as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

SEA Games’ adapting esports is in line with its bursting into the mainstream as it currently has its own superstars and world tournaments.

Global revenue of esports is expected to hit US$1.1 billion in 2019, up 27 percent from a year earlier amid ballooning revenues from advertising, sponsorship and media rights to competitive video gaming, Reuters reported, citing a report by statistics firm Newzoo in February.

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