Asian Games 2018 – Results, eSports Titles, and India’s Representation

The Asian Games 2018 were held at Jakarta, Indonesia and have concluded yesterday. This year, eSports were introduced as a demonstration sport and there were several Indian eSports athletes at the event. The players qualified for the Asian Games by winning the South Asian Regional Qualifiers. They competed on an international level for four games – Arena Of Valor, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018.

India has the second highest number of qualifying teams for The Asian Games 2018. The qualifiers for eSports were held by the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) for six games where the Indian eSports athletes qualified for four game titles. Let’s have a look at the team representing India at the Asian Games 2018 and the results.

The qualifying athletes which represented India at the Asian Games 2018 for eSports are –

1. Tirth Mehta playing Hearthstone
2. Navaneetha Anand & Ankur Diwakar playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2018
3. Karan Manganani playing Clash Royale & Arena of Valor

The full team consists of five more people – Vishwajeet Singh Tomar, Harsh Maan, Giridhar K Sajeev, Abhineel Bajoria, and Tanmay Kumar.

Hearthstone – Tirth Metha wins Bronze Medal

Hearthstone is a strategy driven, fast-paced card game and a major eSports title in Asia. Tirth Mehta, also known as “gcttirth” played for India at this title and won a bronze medal at The Asian Games 2018. Hong Kong won the Gold Medal in this title and Indonesia won the Silver Medal. The game format for this game was on a best-of-five basis, with single elimination.

Let’s have a match overview. The game started with India defeating Japan by a 3:2 and moving to the semi-finals. Hong Kong then defeated India in Semi-Finals with a score of 3:2 and they moved to the Gold Medal Game, where they defeated Indonesia by a solid 3:1 and won the gold medal. India moved to the Bronze Medal game against Vietnam and defeated them with a final score of 3:2. Here are the scores –

How India fared in other eSports Titles

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 is a sports game by Konami based on Football. Navaneetha Anand & Ankur Diwakar represented India for this title at The Asian Games 2018. India was placed in Group B along with three other countries. They were eliminated in the first round along with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Kazkhstan.

Four qualifying teams which included Iran, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan moved to the knockout stage. This is where Japan won against Malaysia with 2:0, maintained their streak in the Gold Medal Game defeating Iran with a score of 2:1 and bagged the Gold Medal. Vietnam won the Silver Medal by defeating Malaysia with a 2:1.

Here are the final scores –

Arena Of Valor

Arena Of Valor is a highly popular online battle-arena based multiplayer game. The format used was on a basis of best-of-three and double-elimination. Karan Manganani represented India at this title. In the first round, India lost to Vietnam with a 2:0 and was placed in the loser’s bracket against Laos. India was defeated again by Laos with a 2:0 and thus eliminated from the tournament.

The final three rounds of the game included Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. In the third round, China defeated Vietnam by a 2:1 and moved to the Finals. Hong Kong lost to Chinese Taipei in the first round by a 2:0 and were hence placed fourth. Chinese Taipei were then placed against Vietnam where they won by a 2:0, qualifying them for the finals where they faced off against China. Tough luck for them though as China defeated them in a 2:0 winning the Gold Medal. Chinese Taipei hence won the Silver Medal and Vietnam won the Bronze Medal.

Here are the final scores –

Clash Royale

Clash Royale is a game that combines complex elements of a fast-paced multiplayer action, tower defense, and collectible games into a single, highly addictive, fun to play and competitive game. The game has won AMD’s eSports Audience Award as well. Karan Manganani represented India at this title as well.

It was a tough but intense battle for India at this event. In the first round, India defeated Saudi Arabia by a 3:0 and moved on to the second round. Vietnam defeated India here by a 3:1 putting them into the loser bracket once again against Saudi Arabia. India defeated Saudi Arabia by a 3:0 for the second time and moved on to the third round along with China, Indonesia and Vietnam. China won against India defeating the team by a 3:0 and thus placing India at the fourth position.

China moved on to be placed against Indonesia where two games were held and they lost to Indonesia by a 3:0 and placed second. Indonesia hence bagged the Gold Medal while China got the Silver Medal. Vietnam, who lost to Indonesia in the third round got the Bronze Medal.

Here are the final scores –

Final results of eSports Titles at the Asian Games 2018

Here are the final results of all the tournaments held for eSports titles including Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, Hearthstone and Starcraft II. China was the best-performing country with their athletes winning two gold medals and another silver on Clash Royale. The format used was on a basis of best-of-five and double-elimination.

Final Verdict

The inclusion of eSports Tournaments at the Asian Games 2018 is a big thing for the entire industry. India being included in this historic moment made it even better. eSports in India is growing exponentially in 2018 with multiple 1 crore tournaments lined up and international eSports organizations considering India for their teams. The eSports Forum was also held a few months ago by the International Olympic Committee, where they discussed the future of eSports and many renowned personalities involved in the industry were present at this forum.

eSports Titles being included as a demonstration sport has put the emerging industry in a new light all over the world. Did you watch the eSports tournaments of The Asian Games 2018? What do you think about this and it’s impact on the Indian eSports Industry? Head down to the comments.