Akshaj Shenoy-led India's League of Legends team to battle 3 nations
THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS team that will be representing the nation in the 19th Asian Games 2023, has departed for Macau to lock horns against Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan to determine the seeding for the prestigious tournament in Hangzhou.
The team, led by captain Akshaj Shenoy, and comprising star athletes Samarth Arvind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan, Aditya Selvaraj, Aakash Shandilya, and Sanindhya Malik will take on Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan on June 21 before going head to head against Kyrgyzstan on June 22.
The five-man team demonstrated exceptional skills to qualify for the Asian Games through the National Esports Championships (NESC) and is determined to make their mark against the top League of Legends teams to secure a favourable seeding.
Akshaj Shenoy, captain of the Indian League of Legends team commented: “With the event for the Central and South Asia region starting in 2 days, our team feels very confident going forward into the event. We've received training from the Esports and Training organization, FITGMR, which has partnered with ESFI to provide coaching to all the games associated with the event. We are extremely excited and are ready to give it our all to make our country and our supporters proud!”
While Esports was included as a demonstration title in 2018, it is going to make its full-fledged debut as an official medal event at the Asian Games 2023 where India will be participating in four titles: League of Legends, FIFA Online 4, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and DOTA 2.
Initially scheduled for September last year, the Asian Games will now be held from September 23 to October 8, 2023. This multi-nation event will cement esports’ entry into the mainstream sports landscape of India.
The seeding fixtures for the DOTA 2 team comprising skipper Darshan, Krish, Abhishek, Ketan, and Shubham will be conducted online on July 13 while Street Fighter V athletes Mayank Prajapati and Ayan Biswas will be travelling to Hangzhou, China for their respective seeding fixtures from July 22-23. The dates for the seeding matches of FIFA Online 4 athletes Charanjot Singh and Karman Singh Tikka will be announced soon by the AESF.
