Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development and Chairman of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare, has chaired the Authority's board meeting which reviewed the latest developments in the local sports scene and gave its consent for formation of new sports bodies including the Emirates E-Sports Society and Abu Dhabi Camel Racing Club.

Sheikh Nahyan congratulated Al Ahli Football Club for reaching the Asian Champions League semi-final and wished the club would win the cup. He also thanked the leadership for its constant support to sports and sportsmen.

Ibrahim Abdul Malik, Secretary-General of the Authority, said the meeting had approved the launch of the Emirates E-Sports Society, the first body to foster mental sports activities.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, it will be chaired by Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Sultan bin Shakhbout. A study on the society has shown that it has more than 20,000 players.

'A national team of e-Sports will be constituted,' he added, noting that electronic sports was gaining increasing international momentum.

The Seoul-based International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is a global organisation that attempts to have electronic sports recognised as a legitimate sport with the mission to promote electronic sports as true sports, and become the global body in charge of maintaining, promoting and supporting it.

In order to achieve these goals, the IeSF is focused on four core projects: increase the number of member nations; create regulations and standards for international e-Sports; train referees through the human resources program; and host an international e-Sports world championship.

In order to become an international sports body that is true to its name, the IeSF is working with governmental bodies, international sports organisations and video game developers to achieve the greater goal of uniting the entire e-Sports world under one jurisdiction.

Source: WAM