17-member Indian contingent is geared up to present the country’s challenge at the Regional Qualifiers of the 13th Esports World Championship which are scheduled online from 11September to 10October.
After impressive title-winning triumphs at the recently-concluded National Esports Championship (NESC) 2021, Hemanth Kommu (PES 2021), Hitesh Khorwal (Tekken7), five-member Team for Dota2, comprising of captain Jaikishan Malik, Manav Kunte, Shubham Goli, Vedant Patil, Ranjit Biswal and five-member Team for CS:GO, comprising of captain Ritesh Sarda, Shuvajyoti Chakraborty, Anshul Adardkar, Hrishikesh Shenoy & Harsh Jain will represent India at the prestigious tournament.
The 2021 Esports World Championship, unlike the last edition, which was completely held virtually, will be played with the remodeled format comprising a mix of online and offline competitions. The countries are divided into 10 different regions in the Regional Qualifiers and the winners will proceed to the Finals, which will be played offline in Eilat, Israel from 14November to 19 November. The Indian contingent is placed in the South Asia region alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and UAE.
“The NESC ’21 was a stupendous success in every possible way, there were many surprising and impressive results. This Indian contingent will be tough one to beat and I’m certain that they will not only put up a strong fight but also strive for a podium finish. It’s great to see a growing interest among the Indian youth towards Esports. On behalf of the Esports Federation of India, I wish the entire squad best luck for the prestigious event,” said Esports Federation of India (ESFI) director Yugal Kishore Sharma.
The NESC 2021 was full of surprises as the new talents dethroned the defending champions and earned themselves spots at the Esports World Championship.
In PES 2021, the defending champion Moin Amdani among the country’s 31 top players, including Navneetha Anand and Ankur Diwakar, a duo which was part of Team India at the 2018 Asian Games, battled it out. Hemanth notched up a close victory against Navneetha in the final and secured himself a spot in the Regional Qualifiers. However, Amdani lost to Gulrez in losers bracket.
CS:GO also witnessed participation of 22 top Indian teams including Wicked Gaming, Tetroyd, Team Ano, Vac Banned, Redemptions and Infinity Esports. Living up to the favourites tag, Wicked Gaming put up a brilliant show and defeated Team Ano in a nail-biting summit clash.
In Tekken7, the defending champion Abhinav Tejan and other 66 top Indian athletes took part. Hitesh Khorwal aka rcool emerged as the champion after he brilliantly cut short Rohit Jain’s winning run in the grand finale. The strong title contender Tejan suffered a defeat against Jeonsa, who was later defeated by mokujimaster.
In the popular multiplayer online battle arena game, DOTA 2, Team Punisher sealed a berth in the Regional Qualifiers after beating Macro Monks in the final.
This upcoming edition of the Esports World Championship will witness a strong competition with the National Esports Federations of 77 countries taking part in it. The matches will be streamed live on the International Esports Federation’s official channels.
ESFI continued its partnership with Artsmith- Concepts & Visions which will continue its support as the communication partner for the prestigious World Championships.
