Asia
Meet India’s Esports Athletes who are winning Laurels for the country
Gone are the days when youngsters were told off by their folks for wasting hours e-gaming before a console, PC or mobile. Today, with increasing smartphone penetration and digitization across India, the tables have turned and esports has become a much vide-for profession for both the urban and rural youth. And why not? Because they are not only earning money and fame but also winning laurels for India.
Esports Federation of India has in a way, been partly responsible for the shift in how the Indian youth perceives esports as a profession. The federation pioneered the competitive esports gaming format in India by organising national tournaments such as Nations Cup, National Esports Championship (NESC) and as recently ESFI Ranking Scrims etc. These large-scale platforms have given gamers and streamers an opportunity to showcase their skills and compete domestically and create a name for themselves nationally as well as internationally making a mark while ESFI athletes have been competing in South Asia & upcoming World Championships.
Nothing beats the experience of the Indian tri-colour going up during any medal ceremony. Here are India’s top four esports heroes that are setting the bar high and aspiring many more youngsters to take up esports professionally:
Tirth Mehta (Bronze medal winner in Asian Games 2018)
Esports Title – Hearthstone
Tirth Mehta, a 26-year-old lad from the sleepy town of Bhuj in Gujarat’s Kutch district who won the bronze medal in Hearthstone — a popular online digital collectible card game — at the Esports demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games.
Hearthstone, developed and published by American video game Company, Blizzard Entertainment, has garnered huge interest among online gamers from across Asia, including Japan, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, besides India. The game is a combination of chess and poker, requiring players to have core skills in maths and probability.
The hours Tirth spend depend on whether or not there was an upcoming major tournament. If there isn’t, he usually spend a couple hours a day if there is, he spends between 5 hours to 14 hours a day playing.
Karan Manganani (Placed 4th in Asian Games 2018)
Esports Title – Clash Royale
Karan “jin kazama” Manganani is undoubtedly the best Clash Royale player in India. Karan Manganani, 20, like many other Indians of his generation, plays a lot of video games. He spends five hours a day on average, on his smartphone playing Clash Royale, a chess-like strategy game. Manganani has an easier time explaining his gaming habit to his parents, unlike most others his age, though. His ability to win virtual wars could potentially one day earn India gold at the Olympics.
List of Achievements 2018-20 Clash Royale: –
1. CRL Combine Phase 1 Rank 1
2. CRL Combine Main Event Rank Top 10(Los Angeles)
3. Asian Games 2018 National Champion (2018)
4. Asian Games 2018 Regional Champion (South Asia)
5. Asian Games 2018 Rank 4(All Over Asia)
6. Esl India Premiership 2018-19 Winter Season Champion
7. MGL World Cup Clash Royale 2018(India MVP)
8. World Royale League Clash Royale 2018(India Captain)
9. ESL India Premiership 2019-20 Summer Season Champion
10. World Royale League 2019 Team India (MVP)
Moinuddin Amdani:
Esports Title – PES 2020
Moinuddin started playing in 2012. His love for football motivated him to take up this game. It was initially started as a fun-time hobby like any other gaming individual. His parents are concerned about his career and job security as not every individual turn out to be a successful professional esports player. However, he is yet to break the news about his ambition of getting into full-time video gaming and becoming an esports professional.
Not owning a PlayStation is the biggest challenge for this India No. 1. Even though he plays professionally, he still has to go to a cyber cafe to play the matches as he doesn’t own a machine. He though feels Esports in India is booming but we still have that mindset of playing is a waste of time.
Amdani is targeting nothing short of gold at the upcoming Esports World Championship in Eliat, Israel.
Achievements:
Two-time national champion
Runner up in PES 2017 tournament at IGX
Runner up at Nations Cup held in India
Represented India at the 2019 World Championship 2019
Represented India at E-Masters Asia
Abhinav Tejan
Esports Title – Tekken7
Tejan started playing Tekken when he was around 7-8 years old and used to go to an arcade shop close to his house where he started playing recreationally.
While he started off casually with his friends at the arcade just for fun but right after his graduation from school, he saw an advertisement for a Tekken 6 tournament and he decided to participate and soon good introduced to the Tekken community in India as well. He started joining tournaments since 2010 and during this time there weren’t many tournaments happening and the community was quite a small one. With no official rules and pretty much every tournament having a different rule set all the time and unprofessional attitude at times when prize money were halved or declined-pretty much affected the growth of the game and increasing the popularity of the game.
Tejan feels getting a sponsor in India for a game which is not that popular is really hard, he has been trying to get the sponsors attention for many years now by staying at the number 1 position in India in Tekken and even placing top 3 in the international tournament but he is still without sponsors and at times even if sponsors are there Visa availability becomes an issue.
Achievements:
Current national champion
1st position in Dreamhack Delhi 2018 and 2019
3rd position SEA Major TWT 2018
4th position IESF 2018 Kaohsiung
9th position EVO Japan 2020
These young guns have set the ball rolling to make esports in India the most coveted profession with every tournament won and make India proud on winning the medals at national and international championships.
Asia
Team ATK Oshun excels at 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024
Mind Sports South Africa’s (MSSA) 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024 showed sterling results.
The championship was yet another chance for many esports athletes to qualify for MSSA’s National Team Trials to be held on 25 May 2024 at which the team will be selected to officially represent South Africa at the African Qualifiers which lead up to IESF’s 16th World Esports Championships to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October and November 2024..
All Registered Players who have finished in the top three places, or the top 20% – whichever is greater, are entitled to enter trials.
However, it must be remembered that all players must have a valid passport to participate in the National Team Trials.
It was indeed exciting to watch just how much all the female teams have improved.
Team ATK Oshun (ATK Club Sport) being a female team astounded all with their skill and sportsmanship. The team demolished all ATK Club Sport opposition to ultimately won the premier event overall and qualify for the National Team trials to be held on 25 May 2025.
IESF’s 15th World Championships will be played to the following titles:
- Counter-Strike 2
- Counter-Strike 2 – Female division
- DotA 2
- eFootball
- Mobile Legends, Bang Bang
- Mobile Legends, Bang Bang – Female division
- PUBGM
The high standard of play saw 37 Registered Players from six provinces being awarded Provincial Colours. Only Limpopo, Free State, and Northern Cape did not have Registered Players who did not earn provincial colours.
Title | Name of player/team | Club | Provincial Colours awarded |
Clash Royale – Premier | Johan Coetzee | Middies | Mpumalanga |
Clash Royale – High School | Aryan Maharaj | PR0NHS | |
Counter Strike: 2 | ATK Oshun | ||
Kaylee Ludick | ATK Club Sport | Gauteng | |
Jessica Eleez Greeff | ATK Club Sport | Gauteng | |
Christin Brazier | ATK Club Sport | Gauteng | |
Megan van der Westhuizen | ATK Club Sport | Gauteng | |
Kayhla Rose Calder | ATK Club Sport | Gauteng | |
DotA – Premier | ZAG DOTA 1 | ||
Suhail Khan | ZAG Academy | Gauteng | |
Travis John Waters | ZAG Academy | Western Cape | |
Mark Kilian Lehle | ZAG Academy | Gauteng | |
Mohammad Dhooma | ZAG Academy | Eastern Cape | |
Nicholas Dammert | ZAG Academy | Gauteng | |
eFootball – Premier | Aslam Parker | PES Society | Gauteng |
FIFA 24 – High School | Daiyaan Hendricks | PES Society | Western Cape |
Mobile Legends – Premier
|
Mavericks | ||
Matthew Tatalias | Mavericks | Gauteng | |
Damian Bransby | Mavericks | Western Cape | |
Preshan Pillay | Mavericks | Gauteng | |
Mohammad Azhar Ansari | Mavericks | KwaZulu Natal | |
Taygan Gabriel | Mavericks | KwaZulu Natal | |
Luke Green | Mavericks | Western Cape | |
Mobile Legends – Premier – Female
|
AHG | ||
Je’nielle Cavanagh | PES Society | Western Cape | |
Inez Pringle | PES Society | Western Cape | |
Salma Parker | PES Society | Western Cape | |
Ra’isha Prout | PES Society | Western Cape | |
Fatimah Prout | PES Society | Western Cape | |
Mia Anthony | PES Society | Western Cape | |
PUBGM
|
Team uEnvy | ||
Richard Henry | ZAG Academy | Eastern Cape | |
La-eeq Arendse | ZAG Academy | Western Cape | |
Kyle Dudley | ZAG Academy | Western Cape | |
Clayton Leak | ZAG Academy | Western Cape | |
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – Premier | Nathan Strange | Hoërskool Klerksdorp | |
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – High School | Luther Peens | Hoërskool Klerksdorp | |
Street Fightter V – Premier | Marnus van der Merwe | Hoërskool Klerksdorp | North West |
Tekken 8 | Stasch Cloeta | Team PlayBell | Western Cape |
Valorant – Premier
|
TuksValorant | ||
Tapiwanashe Keith Matema | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Kyle Halvorsen | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Jaden Connor Swarts | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Ronald James Tyler Wheeldon | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Alejandro Luca Sartini-Kruger | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Armand Pierre van der Colf | TuksEsports | Gauteng | |
Sportsmanship Award | Je’nielle Cavanagh | PES Society |
Asia
PAGCor Welcomes Lawyer Wilma Eisma as New President and Chief Operating Officer
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) today welcomed its new President and Chief Operating Officer, lawyer Wilma Eisma, who took her oath of office before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin in Malacanang this morning.
“We are happy to welcome Atty. Wilma Eisma as PAGCor’s new President and Chief Operating Officer,” PAGCor Chairman Alejandro Tengco said. “We know she will be a great asset and her vast experience in both the government and private sectors will surely be put to good use here.”
Tengco said he witnessed Eisma’s oath-taking in Malacanang this morning. She then immediately joined her first PAGCor board meeting in the afternoon as the agency’s first ever woman President and Chief Operating Officer.
A lawyer by profession, Eisma earned her law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Development Bank of the Philippines before joining the state gaming firm.
Prior to that, she also served as the first woman Administrator and Chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
Her private sector stints include leadership roles in PMFTC Incorporated, the Philippine affiliate of Philip Morris International.
She also held key positions at the Department of Trade and Industry where she worked at the Office of the Secretary and in the Office of the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, among others.
Eisma succeeded Atty Juanito Sanosa Jr who resigned as PAGCor President and Chief Operating Officer last January.
Asia
Maharashtra Government rewards state’s Asian Games 2022 Esports athletes with INR 10 lakhs; marks historic moment for Indian Esports
In a groundbreaking move, the Directorate of Sports and Youth Services of the Government of Maharashtra has rewarded a significant amount of INR 10 lakhs to each Esports athlete of the state who represented India in the Asian Games 2022, held in Hangzhou. This marks a historic moment for Indian Esports, as it is the first time any state has included Esports alongside mainstream sports in prize money rewards for its state players in a major tournament. The recipients of this monetary reward include Darshan Bata, captain of the DOTA 2 team, along with his teammates Krish Gupta, Ketan Goyal, and Shubham Goli, as well as League of Legends athlete Samarth Trivedi.
Expressing his gratitude, Darshan Bata, the captain of the DOTA 2 team who hails from Mumbai, said, “I would like to express my sincere thanks to ESFI and the Maharashtra government for honoring us and recognizing and supporting Esports.”
Esports made its debut as a full-fledged medal event at the Asian Games 2022, where a total of 476 athletes from 30 different countries competed for gold medals across seven titles. India participated in four of these titles, including DOTA 2, EA Sports FC Online, League of Legends, and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition.
“It has been a great experience at Asian games, I am grateful for the support I received from the Maharashtra government and I really appreciate the efforts ESFI has contributed to our journey,” stated Ketan Goyal of Pune who was a part of the DOTA 2 team at the Asian Games 2022.
The talented Indian contingent for the Asian Games was sent by Esports Federation of India (ESFI), who had organized open for all nationwide online qualifiers to select the best and most deserving athletes to compete for the nation at the tournament.
“Really happy to see that Esports is getting recognized and we are being aided by the government. Thank you for the support to Maharashtra Government and a big shoutout to ESFI for giving us this opportunity to represent India in the Asian games,” highlighted Krish Gupta of Pune, a member of the Indian DOTA 2 team.
The League of Legends team, in particular, achieved a historic fifth-place finish at the 19th Asian Games after competing against top-tier teams from around the continent.
“I am really grateful to the Maharashtra government for providing us with the financial support. It is amazing to see Esports being recognized by the Government. A huge shoutout to ESFI for giving us the opportunity and platform to compete at the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou,” commented Samarth Trivedi of Thane who played a pivotal part in the country’s performance in League of Legends at the tournament.
Prior to the 19th Asian Games, India had also secured a remarkable bronze medal at the Commonwealth Esports Championships in DOTA 2, showcasing the country’s prowess in video gaming on the international stage.
“Thank you ESFI and team for all you support throughout Asian games 2022. We are really blessed and honored by Maharashtra Government for supporting Esports players and considering Esports in events like Commonwealth and Asian Games,” noted Shubham Goli, a resident of Pune who represented India at both the Commonwealth Esports Championships as well as the Asian Games 2022 in DOTA 2. The latest FICCI-EY report titled ‘#Reinvent: India’s media & entertainment sector is innovating for the future, India is expected to have 20 international teams by 2024.
The Maharashtra government’s recognition and support of Esports signals a significant milestone in the journey towards mainstream acceptance of competitive gaming as a legitimate sport in the country.
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