Commonwealth eSports Championships will be held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games 2022, set to take place in Birmingham, England. The inaugural eSports tournament will be held from August 1 to August 7. Although this is not an official CWG medal event, the eSports Championships will have its own medal and branding, which is a remarkable step forward in bringing eSports into the limelight. Three games will be featured in the tournament — eFootball, DOTA 2, and Rocket League. The Indian eSports contingent has reserved its berth for the last two games.
The DOTA 2 team, comprising five players — Moin Ejaz (captain), Ketan Goyal, Abhishek Yadav, Shubham Goli, and Vishal Vernekar — won four of the six matches in the regional qualifiers to secure a spot at the Commonwealth eSports Championships. This is the same team that represented India in DOTA 2 at the Asian Games 2022.
“We will continue our grind and have to study good teams in our Esports title and learn better strategies, skills, coordination and teamwork,” said Ejaz.
The Rocket League team, on the other hand, earned its spot by winning all three of their matches to finish atop the points table. The team comprises of three players — Hargun ‘Hargun <2’ Singh (captain), Nirjhar ‘josce.’ Mehta, and Rushil ‘Rushil_Y’ Reddy Yarram. The Rocket League team is combination of two groups that have particiapted in over 30 Rocket League events in the past three years. The players hold Grand Champion rank in Rocket League.
“My experience in the whole regional qualifiers so far has been an eye-opener with regards to how eSports is expanding so quickly in regions like South Asia, especially in Rocket League. Considering how much potential there is, this regional event will help motivate the Rocket League community to participate in every competition and keep them motivated to improve in this game, seeking more opportunities to pursue eSports events in general,” said Singh.
This is the first time eSports will get a dedicated tournament at the Commonwealth Games. “Just like Olympics, ‘eSports’ is one of the recommendations outlined in the new Commonwealth Sport 2026/30 Strategic Roadmap,” said Lokesh Suji, Director, Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI). Suji is also the vice president of Asian eSports Federation. “Commonwealth Games is another big sporting event in line with Asian Games. It’s reassuring to see that Commonwealth has also openly decided to engage with esports (with this side event) and soon eSports will be a medal sport in Commonwealth Games too.”
