China will not participate in the League of Legends e-sports competition at the 2026 Asian Games reportedly due to the country's tense diplomatic relationship with Japanese government..

Sheep Esports exclusively reported on Sunday that the Chinese national team has decided not to participate in the League of Legends e-sports competition at the 2026 Asian Games.

According to the report, this decision was unilaterally announced by the Asian Olympic Committee and confirmed by China's exclusion from the subsequent list of participating national teams for the qualifiers. However, the authorities did not explain the reasons for China's decision to withdraw.

While there are various speculations online about the reasons for China's withdrawal, including an inability to accept the extremely lengthy roster selection process, reporters believes the most likely reason lies in the continued relatively tense diplomatic relations between the Chinese and Japanese governments.

Despite not participating in League of Legends, the Chinese team will still participate in Honor of Kings and PUBG.

It is worth mentioning that China will become the second major nation to withdraw from the League of Legends esports competition at this year's Asian Games.

Previously, the Thai national team also announced without warning that it would not participate in this event, and its Olympic Committee similarly did not provide a reason.

However, the reason Thailand did not participate is widely speculated to be closely related to Tokyogurl, a former representative player of its Honor of Kings national women's team.

In December 2025, Tokyogurl was caught cheating at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), hosted by Thailand, causing a major national embarrassment.

Currently, South Korea and Chinese Taipei have secured direct invitations to the League of Legends esports competition at this year's Asian Games. The remaining 14 national teams will compete in qualifiers for a spot in the main event in Aichi and Nagoya in September.

The qualifiers will be held from June 12th to 14th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 14 participating teams are: Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

The Chinese team won the gold medal in the inaugural League of Legends event at the 2018 Asian Games, but failed to defend their title at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately finishing with a disappointing third place. This Asian powerhouse lost to South Korea in the semifinals but defeated Vietnam in the bronze medal match.

Image source: Internet / Sheep Esports