Sports has always been considered to be active events where people individually or as part of a team keep moving around a set path or area to win or defeat an opponent. That definition is getting a massive makeover with the advent of Esports.
Around since the 2000s — it wasn’t until the 2010s that Esports took off, with current valuations crossing over $1 billion. In its purest form, esports are organised competitions using multiplayer video games where professional players and their respective teams contend for a prize of some sort.
According to a “Windows of Opportunity” report on India’s Media and Entertainment industry by FICCI-EY, published in May 2023, the number of E-sports players across all competitive level games in India has increased from 600,000 in 2021 to 1 million in 2022 and is expected to reach 2.5 million in 2023.
Included as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games, where India won the bronze in Hearthstone, Esports is making its full-fledged debut as an official medal sport at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. This gives Team India a big chance to up their medal tally.
At the Asian Games being held between September 23 to October 8, Team India will be competing in four Esport events — League of Legends, DOTA 2 (India won bronze in DOTA 2 at the inaugural Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year), FIFA 22 and Street Fighter V.
The Indian contingent for League of Legends (LOL) dominated the seeding event for the Asian Games to finish as top seeds in Macau on June 21 and June 22. The Indian team comprised Akshaj Shenoy (captain), Samarth Arvind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan, Sanindhya Malik, Aakash Shandilya and, Aditya Selvaraj.
The team qualified for the Asian Games through the National Esports Championships organised by the Esports Federation of India (ESFI).
Now, the team led by 21-year-old Akshaj Shenoy is keyed up ahead of the Asian Games.
“Our confidence is really high at the moment… We’ve been getting coaching sessions and things have been going really smoothly. And hopefully, the team keeps up this motivation for the Asian Games also, because not only do we get to play against better players, but we get to play against our idols. It’s actually such a crazy thing to achieve,” Shenoy tells the HiveJaw team.
Shenoy takes us through his and the team’s journey to the Asian Games and tells us what Esports and League of Legends are about.
1: How did you get into Esports?
I had a passion for gaming ever since I was a child. I’ve been playing since I was in school.
Eventually, I played the same game over and over until I got very good at it.
I didn’t know that League of Legends had a community. But about four years ago, I joined a League of Legends community I found online.
Initially, I started playing with other teams and slowly in time formed my team. And like that, we slowly climbed through the ranks and became the best.
2: So that would also be your first LAN (Local Area Network) event?
Yeah. That was my first LAN event.
3: For how many years have you been playing the sport?
It’s been 10 years.
4: Tell us about your journey to the Indian team.
When I found out there was an indie community, I slowly climbed through the ranks, and eventually, I made my team. I found out there’s a whole lot of talent spread across different teams. So I decided to scout them out and make them join my team.
I was part of very different teams. Eventually, I realised that I cannot succeed if I am in a team where I’m not on the same page with the other players. So, I decided to scout out the talent, which is similar to me, like young talent, which was spread across different teams. Eventually, I formed my team and we started participating in tournaments.
Whenever there’s a major event like the Asian Games, the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) usually holds a qualifying tournament, that is the Indian qualifiers which is to decide the team that will participate in these events.
Our team were undefeated there and we qualified to represent India at the Asian Games.
5: What are the international tournaments that you have participated in and won?
There are actually many because the game (LOL) is not famous in India per se. It’s collectively famous in South Asia as a whole. So, in the tournaments we play, it’s always along with Bangladeshi people. It’s always with Pakistani people, it’s always with Sri Lankan people. So whatever tournament was organised within the last three, or four years, we have won them all.
To list a few tournaments we won — the SMG South Asian Championship (May 2020), TEC South Asia Championship League (July 2020), Asus ROG LoL Showdown (August 2020), WD Black CUP Season 2 Skyesports (January 2022), SMG x LXG League of Legends Cup (May 2023), LXG League of Legends LAN Cup (May 2023).
We finished 3rd at the South Asia Champions Cup in May 2019, TEC South Asia Championship League Season 2 (August 2020), TEC South Asia Championship League Season 3 (May 2020).
6: Who makes up your team, and what do your teammates do? What do you do also?
I’m the team captain and a student at St. Joseph’s in Bangalore. I’m studying a triple degree in economics, HR and sociology.
I’m the captain of the team because I play a role called the ‘Middle Lane’.
The Middle Lane is the centre of everything. It controls the pace of the game because since it’s in the centre, it can reach all the sides equally faster, so I can affect each side more than the other people can affect any other side. That’s the importance of my role.
I have five other teammates — two people are one year older than me, and three other people who are currently working.
There’s a ‘Top Laner’, his name is Sanindhya Malik. He just finished college about a month ago and he is looking for a job right now. I think he’s still waiting for his results.
Then there’s the ‘Jungler’. His name is Aakash Shandilya. He’s in his final year of college.
We have Mihir Ranjan who is the ADC, the Attack Damage Carry. He was working, but recently he got into IIM (Ahmedabad). I think the classes have started at the beginning of this month. So, it’s been quite hectic for him to plan the training schedules.
Then there’s the ‘Support’. His name is Samarth Trivedi. He has played in the last Asian Games. He’s currently working.
And then the last player is a substitute. His name is, Aaditya Selvaraj. He technically plays every role. He’s equally good as any other role. He’s like the all-arounder. Suppose a player is not available for any training session, he’ll fill in for them. And we make sure that we get some practice in, even if one player is missing.
7: Considering Samarth’s already played in the last Asian Games, has told you about the mood at the Games?
Yeah, he has. Since for the rest of us, it’s a first-time event, he’s helped us get used to the nervousness. He’s told us like how it feels to play on stage beforehand, so it kind of eased us up.
8: So how did India qualify for the Asian Games?
The qualification process wasn’t similar to that of the 2018 Games. In 2018, more countries had participated. For this year’s Asian Games, countries like Bangladesh, and Pakistan, didn’t send a team.
Since there are fewer teams compared to last time we automatically qualified for the event.
And recently, we competed at the Central and South Asia seeding event in Macau, which is a Road to the Asian Games. The seeding event is held to determine our placement at the Asiad.
Seeding works like this: the top seeds are in an advantageous position. So if we’re in the top position, we get to play against weaker teams in Central and South Asia.
That’s the advantage we get by being the top seed in Central and South Asia.
9: How did you and the team fare in Macau?
We played against three teams – Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan — and we defeated them to top the seedings. We beat every team 2-0.
10: How high is your confidence with just two months to go for the Asiad?
It’s really high at the moment.
And we have recently also gotten coaching where the Esports Federation of India has partnered with an American-based company to provide coaching for all of its Esports athletes.
We’ve been getting coaching sessions and things have been going really smoothly. And hopefully, the team keeps up this motivation for the Asian Games also, because not only do we get to play against better players, but we get to play against our idols.
It’s actually a crazy thing to achieve.
11: Esports is a very individualistic sport. So how do you assimilate your coach’s inputs into your practice?
I wouldn’t say it’s an individualistic sport because it’s actually a team game. Even if you’re playing your own game, you have to be on the same page as the other players.
Our play styles are different because different regions have different playing styles.
For example, the Chinese region — they have a very aggressive play style, whereas the North American play style is kind of like a passive play style. Like you play for the end game – play passive, you get strong, you fight for the end game.
But our coach caters to our needs. He realises what are our strong points, and he helps us improve upon them and not adapt to a play style which we may not be comfortable with. He is helping us reach our best.
12: Which teams or countries do you prefer avoiding at these meets?
That’s the tough question.
The toughest teams are China and Korea, but they are also a team we want to go against because they are our idols.
So we are not shying away from any competition. We will prepare for the best. It takes the best to get the best.
13: How do you prepare for your opponent before any tournament?
Usually, we are given information regarding them so we can scout them out. We do know how they play. Actually, not how they play, but what they play. So, we can strategise against them beforehand.
Before any game starts, there’s usually a banning phase. So if we think that something that the opponent plays is like a nuisance, something we don’t want to play against, we can impose a ban on it.
We have five bans per team. So we have to strategise against them beforehand.
There are also those nerves, before any tournament, which are unavoidable. So, we try to talk it out as a team, try to make the other person feel more comfortable, more at ease. Because we don’t want them to feel alone. We’re in this together, so we kind of have each other’s backs.
14: How many hours a day do you practice and do you practice as a team as well?
Since everybody is either working or in college, finding those times when we are together as a team is very difficult. We do practice every day, but even if we don’t get even one day at least to practice as a team, we just spend that time playing individually to improve our skills.
15: Do you have any routine you follow before a tournament?
No routine per se. There’s something called scrimming. Scrimming is where you fight against a stronger team just for practice.
So before any international event or a big tournament, we just spend our time improving ourselves, scrimming with the strong teams, like we scrim with the Singapore team, we scrim with the Thailand team, we scrim with the Malaysian team.
16: How does this scrimming happen? Do you have to contact them or are they always ready onboard to practice with your team?
India doesn’t have a League of Legends (LOL) server. So that’s why it has a low player base.
We play on the Southeast Asia server, which is the Singapore server. We have been playing on it for quite some time and we have made contacts with these teams.
There are many teams, not only the Singapore national team. There are many high-ranking teams. They’re quite familiar with us. They are ready to scrim with us anytime they want because it’s a win-win situation. We both get a high-quality practice out of each other.
17: Esports is a taxing game mentally. What do you do to improve your focus?
I feel it is very important to do Yoga and meditation because you are in front of the screen for huge amounts of time. And you’re thinking constantly. It’s a real-time strategy game. It’s a mobile game, so you have to be constantly thinking.
I feel like you have to have some method where you put your mind at ease. So yoga helps, then getting up and just walking around also helps. Getting a few stretches in. You feel at your best.
18: How do you invest in improving your gaming skills?
In a game like League of Legends, you can only get better and climb the ranks through consistent practice.
If you don’t practice, suppose you leave the game for a week or a month, there are many changes in this type of game, to keep it smooth, to keep it flowing. If you’re not up to date with those changes it’s a very difficult time to keep up with the pros.
You have to be always up to the meta. The meta keeps changing every month, just to keep the game fresh, not monotonous. So you have to keep up with the meta every time it’s renewed.
19: You play League of Legends competitively. Which games do you play for fun?
Individually, I play games like, Bosu or Pokemon. But when I do get free and my friends are also free, I play games like Minecraft or Valorant with them.
20: There are changes to the rankings coming into League of Legends from next week. Are you happy about them?
They’ve added a new rank. It’s just to inflate the player rankings and to divide them equally across different rankings. And suppose, if they feel like if, a huge number of people are in a particular rank and a huge number of people are not in the rank they belong to they add another rank to reset the season.
So like slowly the people will inflate their rank and they’ll go back to where they belong. I do think it’s a good thing that they’ve included a new rank. So that… because a lot of people are in a position where they don’t deserve to be.
21: Have you been approached by RIOT Games (League of Legends developer) for sponsorship?
RIOT has contacted one of my colleagues, he has been in contact with them. But we haven’t gotten any updates as to what is happening.
I think RIOT might show interest in marketing the game in India or South Asia and hosting tournaments. But then again, there’s no confirmation about what is happening because it’s all behind the scenes.
22: How does your average day look like when you’re not gaming?
After I’m done with classes, I usually try to play individually to improve and then try to schedule the practice with the team. And then there are coaching sessions in the night. So, between those times we usually try to schedule the practice timings for the team.
Right now, it’s been hectic because the Asian Games are nearing. When I am a bit free, I mostly try to acquire a new skill.
My mom teaches yoga, so I would try to help her with content management for her web page.
But recently I haven’t been able to do that because it has been hectic.
23: How do you explain the game to a layman who doesn’t follow League of Legends?
That’s really tough. My family has asked me like, ‘What is this game?’ ‘What do you play?’
The game is so complicated that I just tell them: ‘You won’t understand it, just leave it’.
If I was to explain it to a layman, it would say, it is a battle of attrition. It would be two sides fighting each other for resources, fighting each other for those major objectives. Trying to get gold. Trying to use that gold to get items to become stronger and eventually destroy the enemy space.
It’s like mostly a battle of attrition because it is very fast-paced. There are a lot of things you have to think about and a lot of things that go unseen to the naked eye.
But in a shooting game — let’s say we are talking about Counter-Strike — you just throw smoke grenades, you shoot, you have lineups. There’s nothing else except the communications part of it.
But there’s much more to League of Legends There’s a lot of things which happen behind the scenes also.
24: Who is your favourite character from the game?
A character named Katarina. The character is an agile fighter and an assassin.
25: Who is your Gaming idol?
His name is Lee Sang-hyeok and popularly known as Faker in the gaming world. He is from South Korea. He has been an idol for so long. He’s been many people’s idol. He has changed the face of Esports, not just League of Legends. He’s a known face. He’s a god of Esports. Everybody looks up to him.
We are against Korea at the Asian Games, so hopefully we do fall under their bracket because it would be an honour to play against Faker. Because he is at the top, he’s the best of the best. So we want to test out our skills. We want to know where we stand. We are prepared for the best. It’s only natural that we want to go against the best.
