Polish president Andrzej Duda, in a press conference, said that “Esports without a doubt can be considered sports.” The press conference was addressed by the president himself to announce the eight Polish FIFA representative for the upcoming FIFA eWorld Cup 2019. The representatives are included under the project name National Team of Esport and more players would be added later.
The president later in a speech said (translated on Google translate) that
Young people who are at the forefront of something that is very modern, which is very important today. This is personal development, but also technological development at the highest world level. Is this useful? This is very useful. There are many useful skills that can later be used for various purposes in adult, serious life. Especially that gentlemen are also improving themselves in a personal way, some of the men finished their studies, hello learn. They are constantly evolving, so this is a combination of two very important elements – personal development with development in the technical and sports sense.
Later he spoke in a discussion about why he considers esport as a sport – “can we say that esport is a sport? If we can say that chess is a sport, if we can say that the sports bridge is a sport, then the esport, which develops the manual skills, develops the player’s reflexes, undoubtedly can also be included in sports”. Later he went on to praise how FIFA doesn’t associate with anything negative and doesn’t evoke bad behaviour among the younger generations – “FIFA, where you play online or on a football console, is an absolutely uncontroversial game. There is no controversy here, no elements that could be negatively perceived in any way. I am happy, therefore, that this area will be promoted, the more so because football is something that probably most of the boys in Poland are very close to.”
With esports getting more support from major political powers across the globe, more people have started to see esports as regular sports and have extended support for the same. With esports gaining traction and popularity among the different populace, the esport division is set to witness new highs and might even be included officially as a sport in The Olympics.
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