After PON Papua, PB ESI Plans to Hold National eSport League

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Esports Executive Board (PB ESI) plans to hold a national eSports league as an effort to develop the talent of athletes in the country. PB ESI's Head of Public Relations and Communication, Ashadi Ang, said that the league was also a follow-up to the eSports exhibition at the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON Papua).

"After this PON event is over, we will evaluate. Reports and after that we will make a breakthrough to conduct national leagues throughout Indonesia," said Ashadi in Jayapura on Monday, September 27, 2021.

Even so, Ashadi is not willing to share more details about the plan. According to him, later the national eSports league will include League 1, League 2 and League 3. "This will reach all districts. The target is around next year," said Ashadi.

According to Ashadi, holding esports exhibitions faces many challenges, one of which is in terms of network infrastructure. "Honestly, the infrastructure here has very serious limitations, we can successfully carry out the entire series of events safely. This means, PB Esport Indonesia, we dare to hold tournaments all over the country in Indonesia," said Ashadi.

PB ESI also wants to invite the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Kominfo) to be able to immediately accelerate the implementation of broadband or broadband throughout the country. "So that esports will continue to develop, our athletes will be more advanced and can compete internationally, compete professionally," said Ashadi.

He also sees the development of esports in the country is very large. This is reflected in the results of the PON Papua match. The West Papua team won the PUBG Mobile silver medal, while Jakarta won the gold medal.

"In Eastern Indonesia, we see that they have a lot of very qualified talents for them to compete well against Jakarta in the capital city itself, and the competition is very fierce, meaning that all of these abilities are evenly distributed," said Ashadi. "That's why we see that we will conduct tournaments that are more inclined to East, West and Central Indonesia as well."

Read: Indonesian Minister Assures PON Papua Security

Arkhelaus Wisnu Triyogo | Maudey K. Setyakusuma (Internship)