The “Nations Cup” concluded with Kyrgyzstan taking home the trophy, India and Maldives were placed second and third respectively. The esports event was presented by Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) in association with Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI) from 26 to 28 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 a Government body.
“Nations Cup” had esports athletes from eight 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 reportedly could not attend due to “unavoidable technicalities”. These athletes were accompanied by the respective national esports federation’s presidents/general secretaries.
“Nations Cup” was held for the title PES 2020 (Pro Evolution Soccer) on Playstation 4 on 27 November in the inaugural hall of GES2019. One esports athlete from each nation played the first knock out round. Team India, Maldives, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan qualified for the semi-finals. All the matches played at “Nations Cup” were broadcast live on YouTube.
“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” said director general of SEPC Sangeeta Godbole.
The audience included people from all age groups, genders, profiles, delegates from India and abroad, top dignitaries from various ministries and others.
Team India’s Moinuddin played Maldives’s Abdul Maseeh in the first semi finals. The first semifinals went to extra time as both the teams had scored two goals each. Amdani won the match after scoring a goal in the extra time.
Usmanov played Temirov in the second semifinals. Kyrgyzstan sealed their place in the finals after winning the match two to zero.
The finals were best of three matches played between India and Kyrgyzstan.
Temirov won the first match scoring two goals while Amdani didn’t score any. The second match was a draw; both of them scored two goals each. It all came down to the last decider match where Amdani lead by 2 goals. It was the final 10 minutes of the game when the Kyrgyzstan player made a comeback and took the game to extra time. Samat scored in the extra time to win and lift the coveted trophy.
The prize distribution ceremony was held on 28 November and the trophy was given away by cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh for MSME, Investment & Export, Textile, Khadi & Gram Udyog and govt. spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh.
“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” expressed Esports Federation of India director Prabhat Kumar.
This was the 5th edition of GES and was inaugurated by Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways Piyush Goyal. It was 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 sessions. GES 2019 was spread across 19,000 square meters. Over 400 exhibitors and over 3000 delegates including 400 overseas delegates including officials of various esports federations from 74 countries participated in the event. There were also Indian and foreign business leaders from the services industry participating in over 4370 scheduled B2B meetings over three days.