More than 20,000 fans cheer games in the League of Legends Pro League, China's top professional league for LOL, at the Dalian Sports Center Stadium in Dalian, Liaoning province, where the Chinese league claimed the regional championship by defeating the league from South Korea 3-2 on July 8. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

SHANGHAI - The 2020 League of Legends Pro League (LPL) spring competition, originally scheduled to be held in Shanghai, has restarted online on Monday.

As a professional League of Legends (LOL) game of the top level in Chinese mainland, LPL consists of spring and summer competitions divided into regular seasons and playoffs, with 17 e-sports teams vying for the crown and admission to the LOL global finals.

ALSO READ: iG wins first League of Legends Worlds title for China

The organizer officially announced on March 2 that the spring competition will be transformed from offline to online mode and is planned to conclude on April 19, two weeks later than the initial schedule, in a bid to leave margin for players to participate in international games.

Shanghai local authorities also encourage e-sports enterprises to hold their offline games in an online way.

"Shanghai will not slow down the pace of turning into a global city of e-sports, regardless of the effect caused by the coronavirus," said Wang Yayuan, deputy director of Shanghai municipal publicity department.

READ MORE: Rise of the virtual athletes

Shanghai is to host the 2020 League of Legends World Championship Finals this autumn.