The future of sport was on display at the OCA Seminar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology and E-Sports at the OCA HQ on Saturday, February 22.

OCA Director General Husain Al-Musallam and OCA Vice President Dr. Tani Al-Kuwari attended the seminar.

Dr. Thani, OCA Vice President for West Asia, thanked all the presenters, partners and participants and said the seminar would be a “valuable platform for learning and collaboration.” He also highlighted the OCA’s commitment to embracing technological advancements that would further boost and benefit sport throughout the continent.

Digital Esports Asia, invited as a key participant, collaborated in shaping the agenda alongside experts from Ant Group, Baichuan AI, National Virtual Reality Innovation Center (Qingdao), and Tencent ESports. Together, they explored an innovation roadmap for "AI + Sports."

The seminar focused on the integration of AI and sports innovation, structured around five core themes:
The seminar was divided into five main sessions with several sub-topics. The five themes were:

1. The role of AI in the development of traditional sports

2. Integration of AI and Big Data in athlete training and injury prevention

3. Technological innovations (Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, Simulation)

4. AI, E-sports and Digitization in Sports

5. Development of International E-sports events.

On AI’s role in traditional sports, Don Chen, CEO of Digital Esports Asia, emphasized in his keynote speech:
"AI provides revolutionary solutions across all dimensions of sports—enhancing athlete performance, optimizing fan engagement, and driving innovation in commercial and content models. Its potential is boundless."

In the final session, Aaron Liu, VP of Digital Esports Asia, International Technical Official of the Hangzhou Asian Games E-sports medal event, spoke about the growth of e-sports in Asia and globally. He said that the Asian Games had united the e-sports community and that new opportunities had arisen for players to represent their NOC on the international stage and offered a new career path.

Amid the wave of the digital era, sports are embracing unprecedented development opportunities. Reflecting on Asia’s leadership in sports innovation, Don Chen added:
"Many sports originated in Asia and reached the Olympic stage through the Asian Games platform. Under OCA’s guidance, Asia is poised to lead the convergence of AI and sports. We remain committed to merging technology with sports, fostering innovation, and injecting vitality into the global sports industry."