Team India has won the bronze medal at the inaugural esports event of Commonwealth Games 2022. India was pitched against New Zealand in a match of best-of-three in DOTA2. Team India clean swept New Zealand by winning with a 2-0 score line and bringing the bronze medal home.
Esports is added to the Commonwealth Games as an inaugural event and under this event, a total of three games namely Rocket League, DOTA 2 and eFOOTBALL were played.
Team India participated in two of these medal events and unfortunately, the Rocket League team could not make it past the league stage. The DOTA 2 Indian representatives, led by Moin Ejaz, had a good run in the tournament after Trinidad and Tobago did not show up at the event, leading to a clear path for Indian team.
India was then pitched against Malaysia in the semifinals where the team lost and subsequently was matched against New Zealand to fight for the bronze medal.
India dominated in the first game, leading to an easy win for the team. The second game started with New Zealand having a slight upper hand in terms of kills and economy but a balanced state was achieved in the mid game. Team India managed to ultimately turn the odds in their favour and win the second game, along with the bronze medal.
The playing five of this team were as follows:
- Moin Ejaz
- Ketan Goyal
- Abhishek Yadav
- Shubham Goli
- Vishal Vernekar
This win and medal is not counted in the official tally of medals but it has brought India on the global roadmap. The entire Indian gaming community is certainly proud of the DOTA 2 team.
