From professional sports to eSports
In these days of confinement, many professional athletes also find themselves cooped up at home with little to do. Athletes, who are used to being constantly on the road to compete and to live the thrill of competitive sports, are also suffering from the boredom that affects us all these days. For the same reason, many athletes (some were already gamers before) are dedicating many hours to improve their skills in eSports. Even many of them, we are seeing them compete in international tournaments. Which professional athletes have shown the most passion and talent for eSports?
Professional sportsmen who stand out in the virtual world
The guard Slovenian Luka Doncic has proven to be more than just a prodigy on the basketball court. The Mavericks star is also a longtime avid eSports fan, and frequently plays games like Overwatch (a game in which he has amply demonstrated his talent). He is also a fan of the eSports division of his franchise, the Dallas Fuel. You only need to follow him on social networks to see that he is a real video game freak.
Another surprising case is that of the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. In this case, the goalkeeper is organizing a series of friendly NBA 2K matches against other professional athletes. For their program, called NBA 2K Sundays with Thibaut Courtois active NBA players, such as the Spanish center, have come to pass through the Willy Hernangomez or ‘Hawk John Collins. Proof of Courtois’ talent for eSports is that he managed to beat Hernangomez by a score of 79-57. But the Belgian goes much further: he participated in a virtual race against the drivers of the F1 team ROKiT Williams Racing, and managed to finish in sixth position.
FIFA online is gaining momentum
Perhaps the soccer entertainment of the moment is the online tournaments of FIFA online, and the truth is that there are a lot of matches to watch and bet on. Last month, we saw professional players from La Liga Santander representing their teams in a tournament involving many first division clubs. Marco Asensio, who was playing on behalf of Real Madrid, I managed to come out victorious. Following the result, many speculated about how much time off he had had to train, as he had spent several months recovering from his anterior cruciate ligament injury. Other leagues copied this competition format, and on April 21 the Premier League brought out its own version, the ePremier League Invitational. Portuguese forward Diogo Jota managed to win in this tournament, overcoming Trent Alexander-Arnold in the final.
As you can see, the world of physical sport and online sport seems to be closely linked. Many athletes have demonstrated great skill at the controls of a console, and in fact, some were already demonstrating this before confinement. Some people wonder if this type of competition is useful for making sports predictions. It is difficult to know whether these results will mark the way in which players will perform when the leagues return. What we do know is that the best sports predictions can be found at Scannerbet!