India to participate in 13th Esports World Championships
It has been confirmed that India is sending a seven-member team to compete at the 13th Esports World Championship in Eilat, Israel starting on Tuesday. They will be competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Tekken 7, and eFootball 2022 (previously known as Pro-Evolution soccer or PES).
Four official game titles, namely DOTA 2 and the three aforementioned games, and one promoted title, Audition, will be featured in the competition. India advanced to the world stage after a series of regional qualifications, both in the South Asia and Asia regions. Other Asian nations competing in the championship include the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“It is a very heartening and encouraging to see these gamers with diverse backgrounds representing India at the biggest stage in the world and I hope we will be able to win medals and bring glory for the country,” said Esports Federation of India (ESFI) president Vinod Kumar Tiwari in a press release.
India will be represented by Ritesh Sarda, Shuvajyoti Chakraborty, Anshul Adarkar, Hrishikesh Shenoy, and Ninad Sonare for CS:GO, Hitesh “rcool” Khorwal for Tekken 7, and Hemanth “peshyemak7” Kommu for eFootball 2022.
About the 13th Esports World Championship
The Israeli city of Eliat is set to host over 500 esports athletes from 85 countries to compete for a prize pool of $50,000. The championship is one of the first non-virtual esports events since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament, organized under the International Esports Federation (IESF), will take place at Eilat’s Ice Mall. The games will be broadcast in English and can be watched on IESF’s official Twitch channel.
The schedule announced on the IESF official website is as follows:
November 16: Opening Ceremony and Grand Finals (Audition)
November 17: Preliminary Rounds (All Games)
November 18: Grand Finals (DOTA 2, Tekken 7, eFootball™ 2022)
November 19: Grand Finals (Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO))
November 20: Closing Ceremony
Big names behind Team India
Tiwari also announced in the press release that team India is sponsored by big names, including Sports Foundation and a sportswear brand from Bata, POWER.
“We are pleased to have MPL Sports Foundation and Power as title sponsor and sneaker partner respectively for our gamers who are participating in a prestigious tournament like the World Championship,” said Tiwari while welcoming the sponsors.
“Our aim with the MPL Sports Foundation is to democratize opportunities in esports and make it more accessible to our vastly talented youth,” said Sai Srinivas, representing MPL Sports Foundation.
“In line with this commitment, we are honored to partner with the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) to support our athletes who will represent India at the 13th Esports World Championship.
“We hope that this is the beginning of a long-standing partnership with ESFI which has been doing stellar work in building and developing the esports ecosystem in India.”
“As a consumer-centric brand, Bata has always focused on the emerging and popular trends among the youth,” said Bata CEO Gunjan Shah.
“The growth story of esports in India, augmented by the boom induced in the last two years, has been very intriguing. Today, youth is a large part of any successful brand’s journey and this platform is a great way to engage with them.”