Displaying exceptional teamwork and stellar gameplay, Team Top-G prevailed in the National E-sports Championships (NESC) 2023, organized by the E-sports Federation of India (ESFI), and qualified for the regional qualifiers of the Global E-sports Games (GEG) 2023. The team will now battle it out against Malaysia and Mongolia in the regionals to secure their berth in the global finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Under the leadership of Manav Kunte (mnz), the squad comprising Krish Gupta (Krish-), Khaja Hussain (Pinkman), Ketan Goyal (Evil-ash), Vishal Vernekar (Hbk) and substitute Darshan Bata (A35) toppled The Mob by 2-0 in the best-of-three finals. Team Top-G had also represented India in the Asian qualifiers of DOTA 2 for the 15th World E-sports Championships earlier this year. Expressing his enthusiasm for the victory, Manav Kunte, Captain of Team Top-G said, “Winning the NESC 2023 for the second time this year is a surreal feeling. Securing our spot in the regional qualifiers for GEG23 is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and skill set of every team member. We want to express our gratitude to ESFI for providing the platform for us to represent India on the global stage and we are determined to make our nation proud.” The first game of the finals witnessed both teams going neck-to-neck with Top-G edging out their opponents by 51-32 to take the lead. The second game however was thoroughly lopsided and Top-G comfortably overpowered The Mob by 24-6 to be crowned champions. The squad’s prominent players Vishal and Ketan were also part of the historic DOTA 2 team that clinched the bronze medal at the Commonwealth E-sports Championships in 2022. The Global E-sports Games 2023 (GEG23) is scheduled to take place from December 11 to 16 and will feature a total of four major titles: DOTA 2, Street Fighter, e-Football 2023, and PUBG Mobile with all participants being above the minimum age of 18, to ensure a fair and competitive environment. India will be participating in three of the four titles in the Open category – DOTA 2, e-Football 2023, and Street Fighter 6. Following the conclusion of the national qualifiers for DOTA 2, the qualifiers for e-Football 2023 and Street Fighter 6 will kick off on September 9. The NESC’23 will be played in a double-elimination format. The exciting action from the Championships will be streamed live on ESFI’s official YouTube and Facebook pages.
