Mumbai: The Esports Federation of India (ESFI) is all set to roll out the 2021 edition of the National Esports Championships (NESC), scheduled for 6-22 August.
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the nationals will be held virtually with top athletes from across the country competing and showcasing their skills and strategies. Popular games DOTA2, Tekken7, PES 2020 will be part of the event alongside CS:GO, said the statement.
The NESC 2021 will be played in a double-elimination format with the last date of registrations being 19 August (PES2020 & Tekken7), 5 August (DOTA2), and the registrations dates for CS:GO will be announced soon. The matches of popular esports titles PES 2020 and Tekken 7 will be played between 21-22 August, while the multiplayer online battle arena video game, DOTA2 is scheduled for 6-15 August.
“For the Indian esports industry, this is our time in the sun. The increasing interest for esports in our country currently is encouraging us to push the envelope and give the athletes and the audience something new and exciting each time," said the director of ESFI and VP of the Asian Esports Federation, Lokesh Suji. "We are extremely thrilled and excited to announce NESC 2021, it is a great opportunity for gamers to not only showcase their talent, strategies, and skills in competitive gaming but also make the country proud. While esports is now going to be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games as well as few other Asian championship events and is expected to be included in Olympics in the near future, we are committed to develop, support and grow the esports ecosystem in India."
The winners of the NESC 2021 will be selected to represent India at the 13th Esports World Championship by IESF; these athletes will progress through the online regional qualifiers scheduled in September-October to the global finals which will take place in Eilat, Israel between 14-19 November. The air travel expenses and accommodation of the athletes traveling to Eilat will be covered, the organisation said.
"As tournaments like these become bigger and grander, we are continuing to see a growing interest among the Indian youth to take up esports professionally," said IESF secretary-general Boban Totovski. "We’ve got some of the world’s most recognised competitive games in the tournament that is being mastered by highly skilled, motivated, and talented virtual fighters. We can expect an edge-of-the-seat thriller in this season of NESC 2021. This is a very interesting time for esports in India and tournaments like this will fuel their ambition to become the powerhouse of esports."
With Artsmith - Concepts & Visions as the communication partner, the championships will be streamed live on ESFI’s official YouTube & Twitch channel and Facebook page.
