Slowly but surely, India is taking steps to position itself as an important player in the world of Esports. One such step was taken on Thursday when Skillhub Online Games Federation ( SOGF) and International Esports Federation (IESF) joined hands to bring the first-ever international Esports championship to India next year.
Esports has become a major attraction for the global sports bodies with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) planning to start an annual series and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) included it in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games roster.
The first tournament, International Esports Masters, is slated to take place in March 2025 and the SOGF is expecting to attract participants from 150 countries. The host city, however, is yet to be decided.
“It depends on the sponsorship,” Shankar Aggarwal, SOGF president, told ET Sport. “If a state government comes forward and says ‘we will sponsor it to a large extent provided you host it in our state,’ then naturally we would go there.”
The IESF, the global body with 146 member countries, also seems keen on capturing the Indian market as it has decided to organise its first club-based tournament in the country.
“This event is the first of its kind that the IESF is doing. Until now we have done events where nations competed against each other. This is the first event we're doing [which is] based on clubs,” said Boban Totovski, IESF general secretary, who was in India recently for talks with the SOGF and also met the sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
“The aim is to bring Tier 1 and Tier 2 clubs, so it should be a professional level event, but with a different message. It's not always about playing for money, huge prizes, but actually to spread what Esports means and bring opportunities to communities and countries that do not often have the opportunity.”
Requirement
Since India has never hosted an international Esports tournament, there are no arenas ready with necessary facilities for an event that requires a high-tech infrastructure. According to Totovski, the minimum space required for an Esports arena is half of a basketball court where you can put a stage, have a practice area and bring in spectators.
“And of course, the infrastructure is very important -- the internet, the cables, the connections, special light and sound equipment. There are sets of instructions that are written on more than 100 pages on how these sports arenas should look,” Totovski said.
Aggarwal, however, was confident in India’s capability to pull off the event. “That's not very difficult. India has been organising international events for a long time now. Once we have all the agreements and sponsorships in place, we'll be able to organise this event without any difficulty. We'll create a world class infrastructure to host this event,” he said.
Though Totovski has not seen the infrastructure available in the country, he has no doubts on India’s capabilities. “I haven't had a chance to see and verify this first hand, but from what I know, I believe India has quite a huge capacity that even if something is not ready, the speed of adjustment or creating or building something is pretty fast,” he said.
Esports has become a major attraction for the global sports bodies with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) planning to start an annual series and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) included it in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games roster.
The first tournament, International Esports Masters, is slated to take place in March 2025 and the SOGF is expecting to attract participants from 150 countries. The host city, however, is yet to be decided.
“It depends on the sponsorship,” Shankar Aggarwal, SOGF president, told ET Sport. “If a state government comes forward and says ‘we will sponsor it to a large extent provided you host it in our state,’ then naturally we would go there.”
The IESF, the global body with 146 member countries, also seems keen on capturing the Indian market as it has decided to organise its first club-based tournament in the country.
“This event is the first of its kind that the IESF is doing. Until now we have done events where nations competed against each other. This is the first event we're doing [which is] based on clubs,” said Boban Totovski, IESF general secretary, who was in India recently for talks with the SOGF and also met the sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
“The aim is to bring Tier 1 and Tier 2 clubs, so it should be a professional level event, but with a different message. It's not always about playing for money, huge prizes, but actually to spread what Esports means and bring opportunities to communities and countries that do not often have the opportunity.”
Requirement
Since India has never hosted an international Esports tournament, there are no arenas ready with necessary facilities for an event that requires a high-tech infrastructure. According to Totovski, the minimum space required for an Esports arena is half of a basketball court where you can put a stage, have a practice area and bring in spectators.
“And of course, the infrastructure is very important -- the internet, the cables, the connections, special light and sound equipment. There are sets of instructions that are written on more than 100 pages on how these sports arenas should look,” Totovski said.
Aggarwal, however, was confident in India’s capability to pull off the event. “That's not very difficult. India has been organising international events for a long time now. Once we have all the agreements and sponsorships in place, we'll be able to organise this event without any difficulty. We'll create a world class infrastructure to host this event,” he said.
Though Totovski has not seen the infrastructure available in the country, he has no doubts on India’s capabilities. “I haven't had a chance to see and verify this first hand, but from what I know, I believe India has quite a huge capacity that even if something is not ready, the speed of adjustment or creating or building something is pretty fast,” he said.
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