Beyond the Screen: India's Esports Players Aim for Olympic Glory
Explore how Akshay Shenoy and India's e-sports athletes like Ketan Goyal and Ankit Pant are making strides in the global e-sports arena. With the Olympic e-Sports Games on the horizon, the future of Indian e-sports looks promising.
When it was 4pm in Bengaluru, Akshaj Shenoy's fingers were tapping the keyboard and his eyes were glued to the computer screen. He would play till 12am - gathering resources, destroying enemy fortresses, and fighting for six to eight hours every evening. At 12am IST, he would connect with his American coach, Samuel Baudry, on Discord and analyse his game strengths and strategies. Shenoy had been preparing like this for months for last year's Asian Games in Hangzhou. But he wasn't playing field hockey, or throwing javelin. He was sitting in a gaming chair. Shenoy was the captain of a six-member team competing in League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena game. This was the first time e-sports had been a medal event at the Asian Games. Shenoy's team finished fifth, losing to Vietnam in the quarter-finals.
The players in his team were from across the country, but they could only find time to play after college and work. “We could practice only in the evenings because my teammates were working or studying,” says Shenoy. Shenoy, 22, from Kochi, was pursuing BA Economics from St Joseph’s University in Bengaluru. “In Hangzhou we played for the pride of our country. Before that we were just people playing for ourselves.”
Just as India’s shooter Manu Bhaker is basking in the glory of her historic two medals at the Paris Olympics, e-sports athletes are also looking forward to some virtual games of their own, where keyboards and controllers will replace rifles, javelins and starting blocks. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a separate event called the Olympic e-Sports Games. Saudi Arabia will hold its first edition in 2025. Sports are moving with the times, acknowledging the growing fan base of e-sports. According to the IOC, more than 500 million people are interested in e-sports and most of them are under the age of 34.
“The legitimacy that comes when the apex body recognises the sport is invaluable. The IOC sees e-sports as the future and wants to attract a younger audience,” says Lokesh Suji, director of the E-Sports Federation of India (ESFI) and vice-president of the Asian E-Sports Federation.
No details have been revealed about the e-sports Olympics yet. According to an emailed statement from the IOC press office, “Details such as the selection process and qualification will be discussed along with many other practical details. You can expect developments on this after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have concluded.”
As the Olympics of e-sports draws closer, a medal for India seems far away.
Level up
Bowdry, who coached the League of Legends team for the Asian Games, says India can perform better than many participating countries, but winning a medal at the Olympics is a different story.
“It may happen only after five to seven years because the infrastructure is not there right now,” he says. He also says that in countries that have topped the list, such as China and South Korea, e-sports are normalised and supported as a career.
In Hangzhou, China and South Korea topped the medal table by winning five and four medals respectively.
Ketan Sunil Goyal, 32, started his gaming journey 15 years ago. He says it has been a long and tough journey. When he played as a teenager, he faced opposition from his parents, who wanted him to focus on his studies. He says it took him time to convince them about his passion. Eventually, the Pune boy proved himself by winning a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and making it to the Indian contingent for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
“Five years ago when I told people that I am a gamer, their first reaction was that I am wasting time. Now when I talk about my achievements and winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth, their perspective has changed,” says Goyal. Goyal plays Dota 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game developed by US company Valve. Goyal says the biggest hurdle is the lack of financial support, which prevents athletes from playing e-sports full-time. Having overcome that hurdle, he is now fully into e-sports, earning from tournaments, events and speaking engagements. Ankit Pant, 35, from Mumbai, who plays Valorant, a first-person shooter game developed by Riot Games, says change will come when players are trained at the grassroots level. “When I started at 15, there was nothing in our gaming space, and gaming was often seen as gambling. As I won tournaments, brands like Red Bull and Nike started sponsoring me and the money started coming in. Then my parents started seeing it as a legitimate sport,” he says.
Indians start playing e-sports relatively late because it is not easy for kids to get a PC. “The reason we are behind and struggling in India is because we start very late. While abroad kids get a PC by the age of 11 or 12 and start playing, in India we have 16-year-olds who are starting their first gaming session.