ESFI and IAO Gift Training Kits to Indian Contingent for Hangzhou Asian Games

The Indian esports contingent is in preparation to represent the country at the Hangzhou Asian Games across four esports titles: Dota 2, FIFA 22, Street Fighter V, and League of Legends. Ahead of the actual competition, the Esports Federation of India and the Indian Olympic Association have provided special gear to the players.

ESFI and IAO have brought over special training kits that have been created by Hama and these were given to the players during a meetup that was organised at the IAO’s office in Delhi. Present at the event were Street Fighter V player, Mayank Prajapati, League of Legends player Mihir Ranjan, and FIFA player Harman Tikka. The training kit that was gifted to the players consisted of “state-of-the-art” gaming accessories which included a mouse, mousepad, headset, keyboard, and carry bag.

The trio received the peripherals in a meeting with IOA, ESFI and AESF officials. This meeting included IOA acting CEO and secretary Kalyan Chaubey, ESFI director and AESF VP Lokesh Suji, along with ESFI VPs Yugal Sharma and Prabhat Kumar.

Moreover, the athletes from the Indian contingent also had the chance to have a conversation with Chaubey, along with the ESFI and AESF representatives. The conversation was focused on motivating the players for the approaching competition, as well as strategies to grow esports in the country.

Esports received official recognition as a multi-sport event by the Government of India back in December 2022. The contingent is debuting in this full-fledged medal sport at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The contingent will comprise 15 athletes, that will be participating in Dota 2, FIFA 22, Street Fighter V, and League of Legends competitions between September 23 and October 8 this year.

Furthermore, ESFI will be providing the Indian contingent with a comprehensive training program, which comes through their recent multi-year partnership with FITGMR. Through this program, along with the kit, the Indian contingent should be able to “provide the athletes with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed on the global stage”. IGN India has reached out to ESFI over clarification of the training program and kit for the Indian Contingent participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Here is what Kalyan Chaubey, the joint secretary and acting CEO of IAO, said:

We are confident about Esports having a strong future in India where it will generate a significant amount of interest driven by the young demographic of players in the country. Esports is a new-age sport that every country is playing and the upcoming Asian Games will mark the beginning of a marathon where we hope that our talented athletes help India take a giant lead against the other competitors. Just like the USA is synonymous with baseball, Finland is with ice hockey, and Brazil, Spain, and Germany are with football today, the world should be talking about India whenever we talk about esports. The IOA remains fully committed to supporting our athletes; ESFI in every possible way, standing by them as they strive to achieve remarkable success and bring home medals.