SINGAPORE – From 1997 to 2005, sailor Ioannis Kokonias competed at world and European regattas, but the Greek will enter unchartered territory this week as he tries to win a medal at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week.

The competition will take place in front of three huge screens at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre from Thursday to Sunday, with over 100 athletes competing across 10 virtual sports, including sailing, baseball and tennis.

Some Olympic traditions are maintained, like an opening ceremony on Thursday, while some are not – winners are awarded trophies, not medals.

The four-day event showcasing virtual sports and gaming, which was created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has come under criticism, with people labelling it as muddled and sandwiched between traditional sports and e-sports.

Big gaming titles such as Dota 2 are not part of the roster, which features mainly simulated sports.

The Olympic Esports Week comes after the 2021 Olympic Virtual Series, which attracted over 250,000 online contestants from across 100 countries, featuring simulated sports including baseball, motorsport, cycling, rowing and sailing, and is part of the IOC’s bid to remain relevant to young people and embrace technological advances.

The IOC recognised e-sports as a “sports activity” in 2017 and it will be a medal event at a major multi-sports Games for the first time at the Asian Games in Hangzhou starting on Sept 23.

But for some like William Foster, a tennis e-sports player from Britain, the Olympic Esports Week – which features a free-to-play zone where attendees can try out various e-sports and virtual titles – is also an opportunity to enjoy and be exposed to different sports.

The 26-year-old, a two-time Roland-Garros eSeries champion, said: “There are 10 other different sports here and some other exhibitions.

“It’s going to be amazing to see how other e-sports work because I have experience only in tennis, so I’m really fascinated to see all these different sports because I’m a huge sports fan and an e-sports person.”

With the backing of the IOC, Foster, who used to play county, state and regional tennis tournaments as a junior, expects the Olympic Esports Week to become more competitive and reach a wider audience as compared to the Roland-Garros eSeries.

Foster, who used to play other games such as football’s Fifa, is aiming to win the tennis competition here, which will be contested on Tennis Clash, an online multiplayer game. He has been training for at least one to two hours daily, practising with various opponents from around the world to expose himself to different styles of play.

Kokonias, 34, who used to race in the Tornado class, noted that his experience as a sailor has made it a smooth transition to virtual racing, which he picked up in 2020.

The sailing competition is contested on Virtual Regatta, an online race simulator that replicates the real meteorological conditions experienced by the skippers. Players must then choose the best sail settings and heading as they try to cross the finishing line first.

It allows participants to race in real time from their computers or mobile devices and is played by sailors from all around the world, including Olympic medallists and world champions, Kokonias said.

He added: “It’s not 100 per cent similar but it’s the same action, the same feeling but behind the screen and not in real life. But my experience has helped in tactics in the race.”