Asian Games 2023 esports: India’s Charanjot Singh tops FIFA Online 4 South Asia seeding event
While Charanjot Singh won all three matches in the Asian Games esports seeding event for South Asian countries, Karman Singh Tikka finished fifth in Seoul.
Indian esports athlete Charanjot Singh remained undefeated at the Asian Games 2023 FIFA Online 4 seeding event for the South Asian countries, which was held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea on Saturday.
Charanjot Singh beat gamers from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The wins ensured the player from Punjab will get a favourable seeding for the Hangzhou Games, scheduled from September 23 to October 8 in the People’s Republic of China.
Charanjot Singh began the seeding event with successive victories over Sameer Gurung of Nepal and Dishan Sheruban Nithianathan of Sri Lanka with identical 2-1 scorelines. He capped off his unbeaten run with a 2-0 win over Oytijjho Al Aff Tajwar Majumder of Bangladesh. All matches were played in a best-of-three format.
Charanjot Singh’s fellow Indian esports player Karman Singh Tikka, meanwhile secured fifth position at the seeding event. Both players qualified for the Asian Games 2023 by prevailing in the National Esports Championships (NESC) organised by the Esports Federation of India (ESFI).
A total of 21 top FIFA Online teams from the continent will play at the Asian Games 2023, where esports is set to make its debut as a medal sport in the continental showpiece.
Esports was included as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. The medals won in esports were not counted in the official tally in the last edition.
Besides FIFA Online 4 (made by EA Sports), six more games - PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor (Asian Games versions), Dota 2, League of Legends, Dream Three Kingdoms 2 and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition - will be included in the esports category at the Asian Games 2023.
India, however, will compete in four titles - League of Legends, FIFA Online 4, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and Dota 2.
A gold, silver, and bronze medal will be offered in each competition. In all, 21 medals are available for the esports competitors.
Earlier, India’s League of Legends team also secured a favourable seeding by staying unbeaten in a seeding event held in Macau back in June.
Meanwhile, India’s Dota 2 team came second in their seeding group after finishing in the top eight in the overall event that was conducted online.
India’s Street Fighter V athletes Ayan Biswas and Mayank Prajapati finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in their seeding event.