Tag: Asia

Penta Esports, the esports division of Newgen Gaming has announced its upcoming tournament titled, ‘Penta Challenge – Valorant’, supported by Facebook Gaming and Trinity Gaming. This tournament will be a part of Penta Esports’ newly launched IP, ‘Penta Challenge’. Taking place from 5th to 24th October, the tournament has a prize pool of ₹5,00,000 and will have two open qualifiers between 5th to 10th October and 12th to 17th October, followed by a Grand Finale where 2 teams from each qualifier and 4 invited teams will battle it out for the winner’s title.

The registrations for the tournament started on 24th September and will go on till 8th October on Penta Esports’ newly launched platform. Matches will be broadcast quarter finals onwards for qualifier 1 and 2, while all matches from the Grand Finale will be broadcast. The matches will be available for streaming exclusively on Penta’s Facebook Page. Says Penta Esports CMO Akshay Paul “We’ve always had the vision to bring opportunities to the player and amazing viewing experience to the spectators and our newest IP, Penta Challenge, is a step in that direction. While we’ll start with Valorant, going forward, we will have the Penta Challenge for multiple game titles.” Trinity Gaming founder and CEO Abhishek Agarwal says, “We’re always on the lookout for good partners to be able to bring tournaments like these for the Indian esports community. Our vision is absolutely in line with the team at Penta Esports and we’re sure this is going to be an amazing event!” This event will also mark the launch of Penta Esports’ platform, pentaesports .com. The platform will be a one stop destination for all things esports, including match schedules, match results, VODs of tournaments and leagues, content, news, announcements and much more.

The platform will allow users to discover and register for tournaments. It will also allow teams to create recruitment posts and players to find teams. This will enable a lot more players to participate in tournaments for team-based game titles.

Penta Esports head of esports, Kiran Noojibail said, “We’ve been working on this platform for a while and it feels rewarding to launch it for everyone. We wanted to create a platform for Indian esports players and enthusiasts, which encompasses all major aspects of esports. Penta Challenge – Valorant will be the first tournament for our platform and we look forward to building a strong community through the platform!”

Founded by industry veterans Anurag Khurana, Kiran Noojibail and Akshay Paul, Penta Esports aims to disrupt the ecosystem in India with a holistic approach towards the sector, including leagues, tournaments, content and much more.

Prize Pool for the tournament:

A strong 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 September 11 to October 10.

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 November 14-19. 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 Mr Yugal Kishore Sharma, Director of Esports Federation of India (ESFI).
T

he 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.

The Olympic Council of Asia has announced the titles for the debut of esports as an official medal sport at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September 2022.

There will be eight medal events, plus two demonstration games, reflecting the popularity and growth of electronic sports in China and Asia. The announcement of the games titles was made on the first day of the two-day Chefs de Mission Seminar video conference for the 19th Asian Games on Wednesday, September 8.

The Director General of the OCA, Mr Husain Al-Musallam, said: “We hope that this announcement allows all participating teams ample time to prepare and equip themselves ahead of the qualifying stages.

“I believe we have ticked all the right boxes ensuring a high level of competition which promises great viewing for enthusiasts and casuals alike.

“We at the OCA are looking forward to working closely with our friends at the Asian Electronic Sports Federation and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee to ensure a successful execution of the esports event at the 2022 Asian Games.”

The Asian Electronic Sports Federation, which is based in Hong Kong, China, has been appointed Technical Delegate of the esports competition at the 19th Asian Games by the OCA. The AESF will be in charge of the qualifying competition and for the operation and management of the esports competition in Hangzhou.

The eight official events, and publisher, are:

1、Arena of Valor Asian Games Version

2、Dota 2

3、Dream Three Kingdoms 2

4、EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games

5、HearthStone

6、League of Legends

7、PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version

8、Street Fighter V

The two demonstration events are:

9、AESF Robot Masters-Powered by Migu

10、AESF VR Sports-Powered by Migu

Note: Esports was added to the Asian Games sports programme at the OCA General Assembly in Muscat, Oman on December 16, 2020. It was a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, meaning that medals did not count in the official medal rankings.

PFB the quote on behalf of Mr Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) on this announcement:

“Finally, we are here with esports at the Asian Games’22; 8 esports titles means 24 medals. For titles like Hearthstone; EA FIFA, DOTA2, League of Legends, Street Fighter, we have very strong chances of winning Medals for India; Tirth Mehta who got bronze medal last time (2018), will be able to convert that bronze to a Gold this time. We will soon launch the “Road to Asian Games” program in line with AESF, to identify the best of the talent and train them for the main event at Hangzhou, China in September 2022. Thankfully we have enough time at our hands (unlike last time) to have the best of the players represent India at Asian Games’22. For titles like AOV (Asian Games Version) and PUBG Mobile (Asian Games Version); we are waiting for more inputs to come.

It’s time for our Sports Ministry to recognize ESFI and our sport “esports”. We are confident that we will increase our medals tally this time. ESFI & AESF both are committed to develop, support and grow esports not only in India but the region.”

Esports Integrated (ESI), an initiative under the purview of the Ministry of Youth & Sports (KBS), today announces the successful organisation and completion of Malaysia Esports League 2021 (MEL21) Nationals. The inaugural nationwide esports league for grassroots was held in 2 stages; State Leagues on 10 July till 8 August 2021 and Nationals on 14 August till 31 August 2021.

A total of 288 players from 64 teams representing 13 states and 3 Federal Territories competed in MEL21 Nationals in 4 game titles; PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBGM), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), EA Sports FIFA21 and Dota 2. Winners of each category brought home RM20,000 prize money, champion’s medal and the title of MEL21 National Champion. MEL21 was organised by ESI in collaboration with 16 state esports associations. Almost 30,000 local grassroot players registered for the fully virtual competition, held in accordance with the SOPs set under the National Recovery Plan – Phase 1.

For PUBGM, matches were held on 14, 15, 16 August with 22 August 2021 as the Final match day. 15 rounds were held throughout 4 tournament days using point system format, competing in 3 maps, Sanhok, Erangel and Miramar. Team Farang Guerrilla from Selangor emerged victorious, with the highest kill count of 13 during Final day. Team Farang Guerilla consists of Adib Syazwan bin Abd Razak (team captain), Nur Muhammad Safiuddin bin Abdul Jabar, Muhammad Abbas bin Saufi and Mohammad Helmi Eizlan bin Mohammad Ehsan.

For Dota 2, group matches were held on 17 & 18 August 2021. All 16 teams were split into 4 groups competing in a league format in “Best of 1” matches before moving into knockout rounds. “Best of 3” matches were held during the knockout rounds, with 4 league group winners progressing into Upper Bracket, whilst 4 teams with the highest points moving into Lower Bracket. Team Thanks from Sarawak emerged victorious in the final match against ANIMALS from Selangor, coming back from 2-0 deficit to win the match in the fifth game with the score line of 2-3. Team Thanks consists of Benedict Chin Kuok Hong (team captain), Nelson Chin Kuok Chiat, Raymond Then Wan Jia, Nicholas Chin Kuok Chun and Low Kin Siong.

For FIFA21, matches were held on 20, 21 August with 27 August as the Final Playoffs. 16 players were split into 4 groups during the initial league round before winners from each group progressed into the knockout stage during Final Playoffs. Kedah’s Muhammad Faiz Hariry (AKA OrangeFavLain) emerged as the champion, beating Perak’s Kamil Al Amini bin Jamalludi Al Amini (AKA MAXNEVIS) with golden goal in Game 3, after both players were tied in 3-3 in Game 1 & 2.

For MLBB, matches were held on 23, 24 and 30 August, before culminating in the Final Playoffs on 31 August 2021. 16 teams were split into 4 groups during the initial league stage before winners of each group progressed into the Upper Bracket knockout round and 4 teams with the highest points moving to Lower Bracket knockout round. Penang’s Cyduken emerged victorious over Terengganu’s Mikey with a score line of 3-0. Cyduken consists of Aiman Zairie bin Anuar (team captain), Muhammad Hakim bin Adanan, Muhammad Nabil bin Japri, Ahmad Zaki bin Ibrahim and Mohamed Aiman Solihin bin Mohamed Iqbal.

“With the success of the inaugural MEL, KBS through ESI are planning to continue hosting it on an annual basis to continue to support grassroots development of the esports ecosystem in Malaysia,” said Ahmed Faris Amir, the Chief Executive Officer of ESI.

“In the future edition of MEL, we hope to have more female players participating and that MEL will be more racially diverse as well,” he added to the media when asked about MEL improvement plans during the press conference.

All matches were livestreamed on the national esports tournament platform, esukan.gg and ESI’s Facebook page. A total of 2.2 million video minutes were viewed, and 700,000 total views were recorded throughout MEL21 Nationals. This exemplifies the local esports community’s appetite for exciting and competitive tournaments for the grassroots. The number of views exceeded ESI’s initial projection of 100,000 views.

Yuvin Esports, a leading Indian Esports organisation, has announced Tata Motors as the title sponsors for the upcoming Yuvin Valorant Invitational (YVI) tournament, scheduled from September 2 to 5, 2021.
This partnership also marks the entry of the country’s biggest automobile manufacturing company Tata Motors into the Esports domain which has seen rapid rise in the recent past.

While welcoming Tata Motors to the Esports family, Sharang Naicker, CEO & Founder of Yuvin Esports Pvt. Ltd., said, “One of the most premier and established automobile companies, Tata Motors is entering into Esports. The brand name and presence like Tata Motors always incites an environment of awe and veneration for all the communities out there irrespective of the medium they are currently in. Tata Group has been supportive of multiple sports for centuries and now everything becoming ‘e’ it is perfect time for the grand entry into ‘e’sports.”

Founded by the ex-pro gamer Naicker in 2018, Yuvin Esports Pvt Ltd has been focussing on building and grooming talent from India, South Asia and Southeast Asia for competitive international arena. The exciting competition will feature India’s top eight Valorant teams battling it out in a single elimination format for a prize pool of INR 1 lakh. The teams will be contesting in a best-of-three format while the grand finale will have best-of-five format on September 5.

Yuvin Esports’ this invitational Valorant Tournament is an engagement with Tata Motors that will coincide with the recently launched all-new Tata Tiago NRG. “Tata Tiago NRG is a perfect car to own for our young, dynamic, tech-savvy Esports enthusiasts. We are extremely proud and excited that Tata Motors have partnered with us to promote Tiago NRG through a modern medium of Esports. This is the first of many events we have planned for the massive Esports enthusiasts’ community. With your love and support, we are sure to build an immensely respected brand,” Sharang Naicker further added.

India’s one of the most popular and trusted brands, Tata Motors has been contributing to the growth of the Indian sporting industry with its support to many sports over the past many years and through this association, the brand will look to encourage the Indian Esports ecosystem.

“Tata Motors has time and again come forward to show its support to all kinds of sports and with this association, we commence our maiden journey into the Esports arena. The Indian Esports industry is growing at a very fast pace and is becoming a preferred choice of entertainment of young millennials and Gen Zs. At Tata Motors, we cater to the young and aspirational needs of our customers and electronically played sports are one such promising channel. We look forward to a fruitful association with Yuvin Valorant Invitational and hope to encourage the growth of budding talent in this new age field.” Nikhil Kurian, Head – Digital Marketing, Tata Motors, PVBU commented.

RedBull is an official Energy Drink Partner of Yuvin Valorant Invitational Tournament. Released in June last year, the FPS game Valorant has been one of the most popular esports titles not only in India as well as across the globe.