The very first Olympic Esports Week (OEW) ended on a high, with Team Singapore's Nigel Tan winning the Virtual Taekwondo event in the live finals of the Olympic Esports Series 2023.
On Sunday (25 June) at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, TeamSG's 14-year old Natalie Tor defeated 2-time Olympic gold medallist Wu Jingyu (CHN) in the semi-finals. And Nigel was victorious over Turkey’s world champion Nur Tatar in his semis fixture, to set up an all-Singaporean final. And in the grand finale, 14-year-old Nigel defeated Natalie 2-1 in the battle for first place. With his victory, the Temasek Secondary School student became Singapore’s first Olympic Esports Series winner on the last day of the OEW.
In his post-match interview, Nigel said, “It was a tough, but good fight. It was definitely tiring, we trained quite hard for this and it was super tiring, but it was a good fight. I think Natalie and (3rd-placed winner) Wu Jingyu did super well also. It feels good that it was an all-Singaporean final and there was so much support. I didn’t expect such a big crowd, I knew there was going to be a big crowd, but I didn’t think it was going to be like packed to the brim. I've definitely thought about (becoming the winner) in my hotel room, I was thinking about it and hoping maybe it could come true. We worked quite hard for this, especially the Refract team who made this all possible in the first place with their system.”
The Olympic Esports Week 2023 was created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Sport Singapore and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC). The four-day festival showcased the very best of virtual sports with technology exhibitions, show matches, an Education Forum where industry leaders joined panel discussions, and the first live finals of the Olympic Esports Series.
These highlights were shown on screen during the Closing Ceremony, where spectators relived the events of the past few days. IOC Vice President Mr Ng Ser Miang also presented the Legacy Trophy to Mr Mark Chay and Mr Roy Teo, the co-chairpersons of the Olympic Esports Week 2023 Local Organising Committee.
The Olympic Esports Series 2023 began in March, when both professional and amateur players across the world were invited to participate in the virtual sports competition, created by the International Olympic Committee in collaboration with International Federations (IFs) and game publishers. Approximately 500,000 players entered qualification rounds with hopes of securing their place in the first in-person finals of the Olympic Esports Series. With an estimated 20,000 crowd attendance during OEW 2023 and a total of 131 players from over 60 countries, Sport and gaming fans can catch up on the news and action here
Team Singapore sent a contingent of 17 athletes to compete across 9 sporting disciplines. Do click here to catch our athletes via encore live streams on ActiveSG Circle.