Mumbai: The highly anticipated draws for all Esports titles at the ongoing Asian Games 2022 have been officially announced with India set to commence with its campaign in EA Sports FC Online at the China Hangzhou Esports Centre on 24 September. Esports Federation of India director and Asian Esports Federation (AESF) vice president Lokesh Suji had the privilege of conducting the draws for the Esports titles, alongside AESF general secretary Sebastian Lau and AESF CEO Steve Kim.
The country’s supremely talented EA Sports FC Online athletes Charanjot Singh (Charanjot12_) secured top seed at the South Asia seeding event for the tournament while his equally talented teammate Karman Singh (tikkatown) clinched fifth seed. Due to their seeding advantage, both athletes will kick off their campaigns from the Round of 32 stage with Charanjot squaring off against Liu Jiacheng of China and Karman facing A.A. Faqeehi of Bahrain in the Round of 32.
A total of 36 athletes from 20 countries are participating in the well-renowned EA Sports FC Online title. All matches will be played in the Double Elimination and Best-of-Three (BO3) format
Following the commencement of EA Sports FC Online’s fixtures, two of the country’s most distinguished Street Fighter V: Champion Edition athletes, Mayank Prajapati (MiKeYROG) and Ayan Biswas (AYAN01) will embark on their pursuit for a medal in their respective title on 26 September. In the seeding event for South and East Asia, Prajapati clinched fifth seed and Biswas secured sixth seed and will hence begin their campaign from the Round of 32 stage.
In the Round of 32, Prajapati will go head to head against T.F. Rajikhan of Saudi Arabia while his teammate, Ayan Biswas, will be up against K.H.C Nguyen of Vietnam. The Street Fighter V: Champion Edition title will witness a total of 35 notable athletes from 22 countries battling it out for a historic medal. All matches will be conducted in the best-of-three (BO3) format and the loser bracket final and grand final will be played in a best-of-seven (BO7) format.
The nation’s star-studded League of Legends team which is captained by Akshaj Shenoy (Kai), and comprises Samarth Arvind Trivedi (CrankO), Mihir Ranjan (Lotus), Sanindhya Malik (Deadcorp), Aakash Shandilya (Infi), Aditya Selvaraj (Krow) will begin its campaign on 27 September. As a result of dominating the recently held Central and South Asia seeding event and clinching top seed, the team has gained direct entry into the quarter-finals of the 19th Asian Games.
The squad will face the winner of Group A comprising Japan, Palestine, and Vietnam in its tournament opener. The elimination stages will be played head-to-head in the BO3, single-elimination format. The continent’s 15 leading teams will be competing in League of Legends at the prestigious tournament.
The country’s stellar DOTA 2 team led by Darshan Bata (A35), and comprising Krish Gupta (Krish-), Abhishek Yadav (Abhi-), Ketan Goyal (Evil-Ash), and Shubham Goli (Madness) has been drawn in Group A alongside Kyrgyzstan and Philippines. Both of their group matchups are scheduled to take place in the Best-of-One (BO1) single round robin format on 29 September.
The group winner will take on Nepal in the elimination stages on September 30. All matches in the elimination stage will be contested in the head-to-head, BO3 single elimination format. There will be 14 notable DOTA 2 teams participating in the title.
One of the country's top sports and Esports communication agencies, Artsmith-Concepts & Visions, will continue its support to the Esports Federation of India as its official communication partner.
Having been featured as a demonstration event in 2018, Esports will be making its full-fledged debut as an official medal sport at the Asian Games 2022 with a total of 476 athletes from 30 different countries competing for gold medals in seven different titles.
