ESFI To Host National Esports Championships To Pick Indian Contingent For Global Event

The Global Esports Games: The Esports Federation of India (ESFI) will be organising the National Esports Championships (NESC) 2023 to pick the Indian contingent for the upcoming Global Esports Games (GEG) 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

With India participating in three titles in the Open category, the registration for preliminary rounds of the NESC 2023 for DOTA 2 will remain open until September 2 while for eFootball 2023 and Street Fighter 6, registrations will continue until September 6, the ESFI informed in a release on Thursday.

The NESC 2023 will witness intense competition between the country’s talented athletes of DOTA 2, Street Fighter 6, and eFootball. The national qualifiers for DOTA 2 will kick off from September 4 while for eFootball 2023 and Street Fighter 6, from September 9.

“With the 15th World Esports Championships underway, the Asian Games 2022 coming up and the Global Esports Games 2023 to follow, Indian Esports will be making waves on the global video-gaming map this year.

"The NESC 2023 has always ensured a fair selection of our supremely skilled athletes to represent our country on the international stage and we look forward to more of the same this time round. We extend our heartfelt best wishes to all participants, and we are confident that our representatives will make the nation proud in Riyadh,” said Vinod Tiwari, President of the Esports Federation of India.

Following the conclusion of the NESC 2023, the qualified athletes will compete against leading athletes from Asia in the regional qualifiers for their respective titles. In DOTA 2, India will take on Malaysia and Mongolia on September 9. The dates for the regional qualifiers for eFootball 2023 and Street Fighter 6 are yet to be announced, the release said.

ESFI had also announced qualifiers for DOTA2 in the women’s category however no registration entries from any teams were received.

The Global Esports Games 2023 (GEG23) is scheduled to take place from December 11 to 16 and will feature a total of four major titles: DOTA 2, Street Fighter, eFootball 2023, and PUBG Mobile with all participants being above the minimum age of 18, to ensure a fair and competitive environment. The NESC will be played in a double-elimination format.