Team Whoops win nationals, now in Asian Games squad for 2022

New Delhi: Team Whoops emerged champion in DOTA2 category in National Esports Championship 2022 to clinch the final berth in the Indian contingent for the Asian Games 2022, scheduled in Hangzhou, China from September 10-25.

A team, comprising veteran athletes like Moin Ejaz (captain), Krish, Abhishek, Ketan, Darshan and Shubham, Team Whoops notched up a comprehensive 3-0 win against Team Avengers in the best-of-five final.

“I have been playing DOTA since my childhood days and now it’s a great honour for me to lead the Indian team in its maiden appearance at the Asian Games in this game. I would like to thank the federation [ESFI], who has been very supportive & professional. We will give our best to bring glory for the country in the Asiad,” said elated Moin, skipper of Team Whoops.

Following eight days of high-voltage competition and nail-biting action in the National Esports Championship 2022 (NESC ’22), the winners have been selected to represent the country at the prestigious continental tournament.

The Esports Federation of India (ESFI) thus announced a strong 18-member Indian contingent for the Asian Games where esports will be making a debut as a medal sport.

The NESC ’22 saw more than 200 esports athletes from across the country battling it out virtually in the five popular Esports titles — DOTA2, Hearthstone, FIFA22, Street Fighter V and League of Legends. The runners-up of single-player titles — FIFA22, Street Fighter V and Hearthstone — will also be part of the Indian contingent.

“We are delighted with the energy of the national qualifiers. All the esports athletes gave everything to earn themselves a chance to represent the country. It’s great to see high-quality competition for each position. I congratulate all the athletes and wish them good luck with their preparations for the upcoming Asian Games,” said Lokesh Suji, Director ESFI & VP-Asian Esports Federation.

The Indian contingent will now participate in the AESF’s Road to Asian Games-Regional Qualifiers (June-July, 2022), which will be conducted to decide the seedings for the main event in China.

The national champions and the runners-up, who will be part of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games 2022, are:

FIFA22: Charanjot Singh and Karman Singh Tikka
Street Fighter V: Mayank Prajapati and Ayan Biswas
Hearthstone: Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Varma
League of Legends: Team Temple of kings (captain Akshaj Shenoy, Samarth Arvind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan, Aditya Selvaraj, Aakash Shandilya and Sanindhya Malik)
DOTA 2: Team Whoops (captain Moin Ejaz, Krish, Abhishek, Ketan, Darshan and Shubham)