Indian Esports Athletes Shine at the South Asian Qualifiers for Asian Games

This year Asian Games will have Esports "demonstration" sport in Asian Games -2018, Esports event will be held by the Asian Esports Federation (AESF).

AESF had announced games titles on 15th May 2018 and these included Clash Royale, Hearthstone, Pro Evolution Soccer, Arena of Valor, Starcraft and League of Legends. For Asian Games (esports), Asia has been divided in five regions and regional qualifiers were held online and offline (Vietnam and Hongkong) from 10th - 20th June. The winners of the Regional Finals (Offline/Online) will go for the main event at Jakarta.

India is part of the South Asia region along with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives.

Esports Federation of India (ESFI) had sent teams for 5 game titles (Clash Royale, Hearthstone, Pro Evolution Soccer, Arena of Valor and League of Legends), which were identified after the India Qualifiers.

All the Regional Qualifiers for Asian Games 2018 have been completed by AESF and Indian Athletes have qualified for 4 game titles (PES2018, Clash Royale, Hearthstone and Arena of Valor).

The shining stars of the new generation sports are:

Pro Evolution Soccer(PES): Navaneetha Anand and Ankur Diwakar, they were undefeated against the Teams from Maldives and Sri Lanka.

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HearthStone: Tirth Mehta, who played against the Teams from Sri Lanka and Pakistan and came out as the clear winner. He remained undefeated for the south Asian qualifier.

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Clash Royale: Karan Manganani, who won against Teams from Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

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Arena of Valor (AOV): Team consisted of Tanmay Kumar, Abhineel Bajoria, Giridhar K Sajeev, Ahamed Junaid, Harsh Maan and Vishwajeet Singh Tomar, Since they were the only team from South Asia, they get the direct entry to the main demonstration event.

These winners will go for the main event at Jakarta subject to Indian Olympic Association approval. Other countries who qualified for the main event are Sri Lanka (Starcraft) and Pakistan (League of Legends).

A total of 27 countries and regions signed up for the Qualifier, Starcraft II and Hearthstone took the form of online matches while Arena of Valor and the Clash Royale qualifiers were conducted offline in Hong Kong, China. For League of Legends, the South Asia and Southeast Asia qualifiers were held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; the East Asia qualifiers were held in Hong Kong, China; the Central Asia and West Asia competed through online matches. Finally, the East Asia qualifiers for PES 2018 was held in Changzhou, China, while the other four regions competed online for the spots.

It is to be noted that Esports will be a Medal Sport in Asian Games-2022 at Hangzhou, China and very recently the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) have announced an “esports forum” on 21 July at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

"With the support of NOCs, the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee, member esports federations and other supporters, we are delighted the Qualifier Competitions were smoothly carried out," said Mr Kenneth Fok, AESF President. "Again, we are grateful for OCA's commitment to include esports as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games."

Indian Esports Athletes Shine at the South Asian Qualifiers for Asian Games - 2018