Esports Gold Medal Coach Li Yang Embarks on a Second Journey

Head coach of China's esports team Li Yang

China's national training team for the Hangzhou Asian Games esports event Peace Elite (Asian Games Version)

Written by Chen Xuze of Yangcheng Evening News; photo from Guangzhou TT Peace Elite division Weibo

Three years ago in Hangzhou, Li Yang stepped onto the Asian Games stage for the first time as head coach of China's esports team.

It was the first time esports appeared as an official medal event at the Asian Games. He led China to the Peace Elite (Asian Games Version) championship, becoming one of the first gold medal coaches in official Asian Games esports events in Chinese esports history.

Three years later, he is setting out again.

In June this year, the list of coaches and athletes for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games esports events was announced, and Li Yang was again appointed coach of Peace Elite (Asian Games Version). On Sept. 4, the Chinese delegation for the 20th Asian Games was officially established, and he will return to the Asian Games arena with China's esports team.

Li Yang also has another identity closely connected with Guangdong — competition and training director of Guangzhou TT's Peace Elite division. In June this year, the Guangdong Esports Association announced a sports medal application notice, and Li Yang applied for a first-level medal as the championship coach of the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games Peace Elite (Asian Games Version), with the Guangdong Esports Association listed as his registered organization.

From the Hangzhou Asian Games to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Li Yang has gained a new understanding of the weight of the word 'coach'.

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“The biggest difference is that my mindset and sense of responsibility are different now,” he said in an interview with Yangcheng Evening News.

The second Asian Games appearance carries even greater responsibility

The 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games brought a sense of first-time excitement and uncertainty for Chinese esports as a whole.

With esports entering the Asian Games as an official event for the first time, many aspects needed exploration, including competition methods, team building, and how professional esports training experience could fit into a multi-sport event system.

Li Yang remembers that his biggest focus at the time was making every step work properly.

The result was rewarding. On Oct. 1, 2023, China won the Peace Elite (Asian Games Version) gold medal. Li Yang, Zhu Bosheng, Liu Yunyu, Zhang Jianhui, Chen Yumeng and Huang Can stood on the top podium together.

After being selected again three years later, he now understands what the Asian Games represent.

“There is more familiarity, but the responsibility is also greater,” Li Yang said. “Because we have already won once, expectations from the outside world are also higher.”

Therefore, his keyword this time is 'restart'.

“The gold medal from three years ago belongs to the past. This time we will start from zero and prepare as a new team,” Li Yang said.

This change has also happened alongside the development of esports in recent years.

From the Hangzhou Asian Games to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, esports events expanded from seven to 11. China will compete in four events: Honor of Kings, Peace Elite (Asian Games Version), Identity V (Asian Games Version), and Naraka: Bladepoint, with four coaches and 23 athletes selected.

Li Yang has felt the changes in more specific ways.

“Training systems, data analysis, player management, physical training and psychological preparation are all continuously improving,” he said. The demands on coaches have gone beyond tactical arrangements for a single match, requiring attention to team management, training plans, mental states and in-game decisions.

Three years ago, the Hangzhou Asian Games allowed more people to seriously notice esports athletes for the first time. After three years of development, the industry is gradually adapting to its new identity as a competitive sports discipline.

Club daily training and competition systems also brought into the national team

Away from his role as national team head coach, Li Yang still spends most of his time rooted in professional leagues.

The life of a professional club revolves around training, competition and reviews. These ordinary accumulations over time reveal unique value at the national team level.

“First is the training system,” Li Yang told reporters. Finding problems through data, footage and match performances, then returning to training to solve them, has become a long-established practice in professional clubs.

Another key point is teamwork. Peace Elite relies heavily on coordination among multiple players. When players from different clubs join the national team, communication systems, role divisions and decision-making responsibilities in different situations must be established quickly.

In Li Yang's view, this is the biggest difference between national team preparation and club training. Clubs focus on long seasons and future player development and roster building, while Asian Games teams face a closed competition cycle with very limited time for integration. “We must efficiently bring the team together and maximize everyone's strengths,” he said.

During preparation for the Hangzhou Asian Games, Li Yang noted that national team selection considered not only competitive ability but also major-event experience, mental quality, teamwork and tactical adaptability. Leading the team again, he has a deeper understanding of this.

“The national team represents more than individuals or clubs,” he said. “The requirements for discipline, schedules, team awareness and overall qualities are higher.”

In this way, professional esports training systems and comprehensive events like the Asian Games have become increasingly connected. In Li Yang's case, this connection also carries a distinct Guangdong character.

“Hope Guangdong can provide more talent for the national team”

If professional training is the national team's 'internal strength,' then the esports ecosystem represented by Guangdong is the 'external force' supporting players and coaches.

Li Yang has long worked at a club in Guangzhou and is registered as a Guangdong esports coach.

While Li Yang prepares for another campaign, two Guangdong representatives also appear in this Chinese esports team: Lu Shujia from Identity V and Wang Feng from Naraka: Bladepoint. Both were selected for the Chinese sports delegation and had previously appeared on the 2026 Guangdong esports athlete registration list released by the Guangdong Esports Association.

One coach and two athletes make the connection between Guangdong esports and the Asian Games more concrete.

Discussing changes in Guangdong esports talent, Li Yang first mentioned Guangzhou and Shenzhen. “Guangdong has a strong internet culture and esports industry foundation. Cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen have developed relatively mature esports ecosystems and cultivated capable professional clubs and event systems.”

He believes the appearance of Guangdong esports athletes on national team lists for different events reflects years of accumulation. This talent pool is also expanding from only professional players to broader roles such as coaches, training staff, referees and event operations.

Li Yang hopes this path will continue expanding. “In the future, we should not only keep developing excellent players, but also build a more complete ecosystem across events, youth training, clubs, content production and the esports industry chain, providing more talent for the national team.”

After winning the Asian Games title three years ago, Li Yang was asked what that gold medal meant.

Looking back now, he remembers more than just the championship. “It made me realize more deeply that a coach's responsibility goes far beyond tactics and training; it is also about stabilizing the team at crucial moments and finding ways to break through difficulties.”

Over the years, he has increasingly considered how a team is formed and developed, and how individuals with different personalities can truly become a competitive whole.

The gold medal from three years ago remains in Hangzhou, along with the experience and a deeper understanding of the coaching profession. At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, results must be recalculated and expectations readjusted.

Li Yang said his task is to bring the team to its best condition and then step onto the competition stage.