Discussion of Sergey Petrovich Evseev’s article “Towards a natural classification of digital sports”

The relevance of this article arises from the rapid growth of digital sports, making the issue of their theoretical classification crucial for contemporary sports theory and practice. Following the tradition of public scholarly discussion in Russian physical culture and sports theory, this opinion piece analyses the “natural classification of digital sports” proposed by S. P. Evseev, based on the level of interaction between “sport” and “digital”. Drawing on a comparison with approaches developed in Russian sports science, it has been argued that the proposed types of interaction primarily reflect the use of digital technologies in sports in general, and therefore require further methodological clarification of the conceptual blocks “digital sports” and the notions “traditional activities”, “classical sports”, “sport”, and “digital”. As a result, the relationship between the concepts of “technological sports” and “digital sports” is outlined, and a type of digital environment for competitive activity, such as video games and platforms, is proposed as a key basis for categorizing digital sports. This sets a benchmark for further theoretical and practical research.