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BARCELONA, Nov. 27-- The European Final of the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG), running from Nov. 23 to 26 in Barcelona, brought together 336 players, the best of the best from 26 European countries, from the Counter Strike games: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, DOTA 2 and Starcraft II, competing for a prize pool of $279,800 and tickets to the Global Electronic Sports Games Grand Final in 2018. Zhang Dazhong, the Alisports CEO and the creator of this world tournament of electronic sports, arrived at the stage after an 11-hour flight from Shanghai. With Zhang as director of Alisports, the company has invested more than 150 million yuan (approximately 22.4 million US dollars) in WESG per year. The investment has surprised many observers, because there are still not many people in China who understand the importance of electronic sports. They are only video games for children, right? They questioned. "Electronic sports are not the same as video games," explained Zhang, "Only 30 percent of video games can be electronic sports. Alisports rigorously chooses the games for its athleticism, its justice, its sustainability and its sports spirit." His words can be proved in several ways. This year, electronic sports have been registered as official tournaments of the Asian Games in 2022, while Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said that the IOC would like to open its door to electronic sports as long as it does not go against the Olympic spirit, during his visit to the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China, in August. | 
