Lessons from Beijing-based team's defeat can benefit China at Asiad

Chinese e-sports team Royal Never Give Up tasted defeat for the first time last Sunday－but the loss could have a silver lining.

After being crowned world champion at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational in Paris last month, RNG lost its first home game of the summer season of the LPL, the pro competition for LOL in China, against Jing-Dong Gaming at the RNG E-sports Center in Beijing.

Four RNG players, including LOL megastar Uzi (Jian Zihao), will feature for China's new national squad at August's Asian Games in Indonesia.

And with RNG's sports psychologists, who also work with China's women's basketball team, chewing over the reasons for the defeat, it's hoped that valuable lessons and insights can be gained in time for the Games, where e-sports will debut as a demonstration event.

"Generally speaking, a shooter's mentality in basketball must be very high because if the shooter cannot stay calm he or she cannot shoot. For e-sports players, that's the same logic," said Huang Jing, head of RNG's psychology staff.

"I have been working with traditional sports teams and the requirements and abilities of e-sports players goes beyond my imagination.

"Their reaction speed and multi-tasking ability, as well as their imagination in a three-dimensional gaming world, are even higher than traditional players to some degree, so any small psychological change can influence their performance."

After winning Sunday's opening round, RNG played more aggressively over the next two rounds, with its recklessness resulting in a 2-1 defeat.

"Although there is a difference between e-sports players and traditional athletes, the similarity is that the victory is not always about the absolute power of a team but about the actual performance," said Huang.

"It's about players' determination and their ability to control emotions and adjust their performance during big tournaments.

"I've been working with RNG for quite a long time and I know they are very talented young players. However, there are still many things for them to learn and I'll help them by using my experience in the traditional sports field."

Apart from psychologists, top e-sports teams like RNG also have other support staff, including physicians and fitness trainers.

"It's an honor for e-sports players to represent our nation at the Asian Games," said Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui, who won 100m backstroke bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"I've talked to some professional e-sports players, and I realized that some of them can control themselves even better than what I can do.

"As a swimmer, I'm usually too nervous to speak before a big meet. I know some of the professional e-sports players can still joke with each other and even sing songs together before huge competitions.

"We are lonely fighters because swimmers do not have teammates to fight with you, but for LOL players, it's about a team of people who help each other to reach one common goal of winning the tournament."

As a new business, e-sports is learning from traditional sports leagues to introduce a player-transaction system, salary-cap regulations and home-and-away scheduling.

Sunday's event was RNG's debut at its new E-sports Center at Huaxi Live, Beijing's go-to facility for hosting sports events and concerts.

"Since LPL started to reform the home-and-away system, RNG has been planning to select a new home for our club," said Li Jieming, the club's chief marketing officer.

"For us, a new home stadium means that RNG can have offline influence rather than just be an online icon.

"For the club, the players, the fans and the sponsors, we have a new home. For fans, the games are not just about the online live broadcast signal and the players are not just images on the screen."