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Global Esports to play in VALORANT: Pacific League 2023

Global Esports, tags: pacific - Image via Twitter/@GlobalEsportsIn

Indian esports organization Global Esports has become one of the ten participating teams in the upcoming 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour: Pacific League. Riot Games confirmed the news this week.

GE’s VALORANT division has remained one of the most active teams in the region since its debut in 2020. This year, the Indian team won two B-tier tournaments before being eliminated by the Indonesian-based Rex Regum Qeon in VCT 2022: APAC Stage 2 Challengers. Regardless, GE’s active participation and popularity in the region gave them an entry ticket to VCT Pacific.

As of today, GE is the only Indian-based organization to have achieved such an honor in competitive VALORANT. The member comprises team captain Bhavin “HellrangeR” Kotwani, Ganesh “SkRossi” Gangadhar, Akshay “KappA” Sinkar, Jayanth “skillZ” Ramesh, Abhirup “Lightningfast” Choudhury, and Pranav “Kohliii” Kohli, who signed with the team this May.

Following their defeat to RRQ in June, GE made a few changes to its fixture. The most notable was the release of analyst and coach Malav “Rexdreams” Popat in late August. Rexdreams was hired this January and promoted to assistant coach in April, along with the signing of South Korean head coach Hong “Eraser” Chang-Pyo.

Riot announces three VALORANT events in 2023

Aside from the Pacific circuit, Riot also announced two other leagues in 2023—VCT Americas and VCT EMEA. Riot explained that the three new international tournaments would debut next year.

“In 2023, we’re introducing three new VALORANT International Leagues with 10 partnered teams each, which will represent the premier level of competition in the VCT,” Riot said.

“Earlier this year, we kicked off a robust selection process to choose the partners for each league. We’ve now identified the 30 teams and are confident that they’re the right partners to help us build the next era of the sport and deliver amazing experiences to fans around the world.”

Riot explained the selection process ran for months, and there were three main criteria for inducting a proper team as one of the partners. They had to be a community-driven organization, a compelling brand with strong ties with fans, and a long-term sustainable organization.

“The process was incredibly competitive, and we were humbled by the interest and the overwhelming number of applications we received. The selection spanned months, including a written application, in-depth interviews, and financial reviews,” Riot continued.

Riot added that an organization’s past competitive performance was not included as a criterion in the selection process. That being said, Riot plans to have more “Challengers leagues” to fill the gaps in the future.

“With so many teams in our ecosystem, it’s inevitable that someone’s favorite team didn’t make the cut, but that doesn’t mean their journey in the VCT ends here,” Riot said.

“Over 20 Challengers leagues will run across the world, offering a place for teams to win their region and earn their shot to play in the international leagues through the new Ascension tournaments.”

Each VALORANT International League features ten teams. The teams in each region are as follows:

Americas: Sentinels, Cloud9, 100 Thieves, NRG, Evil Geniuses, FURIS Esports, LOUD, MIBR, KRÜ Esports, and Leviatán.

EMEA: Fnatic, Team Liquid, Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, Giants, Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, BBL Esports, and KOI.

Pacific: ZETA DIVISION, DetonatioN Gaming, Gen. G, T1, DRX, Team Secret, Paper Rex, RRQ, Talon Esports, and GE.