New Delhi: Tekken7 star Hitesh Khorwal and Ritesh Sarda-led Team Wicked Gaming secured their places in the Indian squad as the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) announced a strong 11-member contingent for the 14th edition of the World Esports Championships (WEC), to be held in Bali from November 27 to December 7.
Khorwal aka rcool and a five-member Team Wicked Gaming, comprising of skipper Sarda, Hrishikesh Shenoy, Anshul Ajay Adarkar, Shuvajyoti Chakraborty and Ninad Ramesh Sonare, sealed WEC berths after winning the Tekken7 and CS:GO titles respectively at the National Esports Championships, which saw a thrilling competition with the participation of top athletes from across the country virtually.
The upcoming World Esports Championship—organised by the International Esports Federation (IESF), will boast a massive prize pool of USD 500,000 (INR 4 crore approximately).
Besides Tekken7 and CS:GO, WEC will also have DOTA2 and PES2022 titles. A DOTA2 team, which qualified for the 2022 Asian Games, has been selected to represent India at the WEC as well. The team will consist of veteran athletes including Moin Ejaz, Shubham Goli, Ketan Goyal, Abhishek Yadav and Vishal Verenakar, who is included in place of Krish.
“The NESC ’22 was a stupendous success in every possible way, there were many impressive results. This Indian contingent will be a 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.
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It’s great to see an immense interest among the Indian youth towards Esports. On behalf of the Esports Federation of India, I wish the entire squad best luck for the regional qualifiers,” said Lokesh Suji, Director of Esports Federation of India and Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation.
A two-day National Esports Championships saw participation of 16 top teams from across the country in a multiplayer first-person shooter esports title CS:GO.
Defending champions Wicked Gaming put up a brilliant show and remained undefeated throughout the qualifiers. In the nail-biting final, they defeated Kingpins, an underdog team which gave a tough fight.
On the other hand, in single-player fighting game Tekken7, Khorwal also successfully defended his title after he brilliantly ended the sensational run of Kashmir’s Arsalan Nabi Wani aka KMR in the final with a 2-0 win.
Arsalan had topped the winner brackets while Khorwal entered the final after leading the lower brackets as 36 athletes took part in Tekken7.
The Indian contingent will now take part in the World Esports Championships Regional Qualifiers, for which the dates will be announced soon by the IESF.
For CS:GO & Tekken 7, Regional Qualifiers will be played but irrespective of the results, they will participate in the Global Finals to be held in Bali.
ESFI continued its partnership with the country’s top sports and Esports specialised communication firm—Artsmith – Concepts & Visions, which will continue its support as their communication partner for the prestigious World Championships.
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