QIN Siyue
We may already know what the most popular events at the Hangzhou Asian Games are going to be.
Official Asian Games esports merchandise has already sold out three times and the fourth restock will sell out soon. Many items sell out immediately after they are restocked.
The merchandise designs include well-known characters from games, but it's the decidedly local elements that have drawn the wows. A scarf celebrating the Honor of Kings is made of pure silk and features the Games' emblem in the form of a fan, using an osmanthus, the flower of Hangzhou, as the background.
Esports might not be the first thing to spring to mind as an engrossing event to watch live, but esports events are hugely popular, attracting rollicking crowds of superfans. The extreme popularity has led to great difficulty in obtaining tickets.
Esports events are not only the most expensive at 1,000 yuan (US$140) for the finals, but they are also the only events that need a lottery to determine who gets to see the show. Most events have three levels of price, esports has two. The tickets for the esports preliminaries cost up to 500 yuan, second only to swimming at 600 yuan. Esports, swimming and basketball command the highest prices at the Games.
The first batch of tickets for 12 events with prices ranging from 20 to 1000 yuan have sold out. Diving sold out within one minute, swimming after 90 seconds.
