“NATIONS CUP” CONCLUDES WITH BIG BANG
“Nations Cup” concluded with Kyrgyzstan taking home the trophy, India & Maldives were placed second and third respectively. “Nations Cup” (International Esports Championship) was presented by Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) in association with Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI) from 26th – 28th November 2019 at Global Exhibition on Services (GES) 2019 at historical Palace Grounds in Bengaluru. It is India’s First esports championship under the aegis of any Government Body.“Nations Cup” had esports athletes from 8 National Esports Federations – Uzbekistan (Sanjar Usmanov), Kyrgyzstan (Samat Temirov), Nepal (Ayush Ranjit), Sri Lanka (, Maldives (Abdul Maseeh), Azerbaijan (Nicat), Vietnam (Truong Duc Hieu) and India (Moinuddin Amdani). Azerbaijan could not attend due to unavoidable technicalities. These Athletes were accompanied by respective national esports federation’s Presidents/General Secretaries.“Nations Cup” was held for the video game eFOOTBALL PES 2020 (Pro Evolution Soccer; it’s a football simulation video game) on Playstation4 on 27th Nov in the inaugural hall of GES2019. One esports athlete from each nation played the first knock out round. Team India, Team Maldives, Team Uzbekistan and team Kyrgyzstan qualified for the Semi-Finals. All the matches played at “Nations Cup” were broadcasted live on YouTube. The event saw lots of nail biting moments including extra time where India losing out to Kyrgyzstan at the last moment.Atmosphere was exhilarating and audiences included people from all age groups, genders, profiles, delegates from India & abroad, top dignitaries from various Ministries; who kept on encouraging the esports athletes throughout. Highest level of sportsmanship & camaraderie was displayed all the while by these esports athletes.Team India’s Moinuddin played Team Maldives’s Abdul Maseeh in the first Semi Finals. The first semifinals went to extra time as both the teams had scored 2 goals each. Team India won the match after scoring a goal in the extra time.Sanjar Usmanov (Team Uzbekistan) played Samat Temirov (Team Kyrgyzstan) in the second semifinals. Samat was very comfortable in sealing their place to the finals after winning the match 2-0.The Finals of “Nations Cup” was best of 3 matches played between Moin (Team India) and Samat (Team Kyrgyzstan). The Final match was a mix & test of esports athlete’s Stamina, Psychology and Skills. The pressure built up not only on these athletes but also on the audiences, which was clearly evident by their chants…. INDIA INDIA……Team Kyrgyzstan won the first match scoring 2 goals while Team India didn’t score any. The second match was a draw; both of them scored 2 goals each. It all came down to the last decider match where Team India lead by 2 goals. It was the final 10 mins of the game when Team Kyrgyzstan made a comeback and took the game to extra time. Samat (Team Kyrgyzstan) scored in the extra time to win & lift the “Nations Cup”, while Moin was placed second. Though Samat won the Nations Cup, but Moin was all-time favorite throughout the tournament. Seems India has now got its own Esports Hero for PES.
Prize distribution ceremony was held on 28th Nov; the trophy was given away by Shri Siddharth Nath Singh (Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh for MSME, Investment & Export, Textile, Khadi & Gram Udyog and Govt. Spokesperson). GES2019 was inaugurated by Shri Piyush Goyal (Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways).All the esports athletes & officials bore the cutting edge “Performance Wear” provided by Alcis Sports (India’s very own home grown sports brand).
(From left to Right Samat (Team Kyrgyzstan), Mr. Ruslan Ateev (President, Esports Federation of Kyrgyzstan) and Shri Siddharth Nath Singh (Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh for MSME, Investment & Export, Textile, Khadi & Gram Udyog and Govt. Spokesperson)
“The Nations Cup was one of the key highlights of GES2019. Esports being presented at such a high profile event will open up multiple avenues for the Indian services industry in esports, gaming, animation, VFX, legal, event management said industry persons present during GES” – Ms. Sangeeta Godbole (Director General – SEPC)“We thank SEPC for their relentless support in making this happen and giving us an opportunity to present esports and its various opportunities at such a grand scale. A special note of thanks to our Performance Wear Partners – Alcis” – Mr. Prabhat Kumar (Director- Esports Federation of India)This was the 5th edition of GES and is an attempt towards escalating the Indian services bar in the global arena by exploring 12 Champion Services Sectors, encompassing participation from 74 countries and hosting sector specific knowledge. GES 2019 is spread across 19,000 square meters. Over400 exhibitors and over 3000 delegates including 400 overseas delegates including officials of various esports federations from 74 countries participated in the GES 2019. There were also Indian and foreign business leaders from the services industry participating in over 4370 scheduled B2B meetings over the 3 days.
