India’s top Street Fighter V athlete Mayank Prajapati and reigning eFootball national champion Hemanth Kommu will represent India in the world finals of the Global Esports Games 2022, scheduled to take place in Istanbul from December 14 to 18.

Reigning national champions Mayank and Hemanth have received direct entries for the prestigious event. India’s DOTA2 team, on the other hand, couldn’t make it to the world finals after they crashed out of the Asia-Pacific region qualifiers.

Mayank, popularly known as MiKeYROG, clinched the title of National Esports Championships (NESC) 2022, conducted by Esports Federation of India (ESFI) in April this year and will also represent India at the Asian Games which is scheduled next year.

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“I am super excited to represent India at GEG 2022. It’s a huge opportunity for me to play at such a big event with the top players from different countries competing. I’ve been practising a lot by playing against players in ranked games and in the battle lounge and devising strategies against different characters. I don’t know who my opponents are going to be but I’m prepared to face the challenge. I’m also thankful to ESFI for giving me this opportunity. I am really looking forward to it and hopefully, if all goes well, this will definitely put the Indian fighting gaming community’s name in the world,” said an elated Mayank Prajapati.

Hemanth (Peshemak7), an IIT alumnus, clinched the title at the NESC 2022 and secured his berth. Besides Global Esports Games, Hemanth will also represent India at the 14th World Esports Championship, which will be held in Bali from November 27 to December 7.

While expressing his joy of representing the country, Hemanth said: “It’s a great feeling and an honour to represent India once again this year. Its sheer dedication and hard work which resulted in getting the spot for the GEG 2022 world finals. I am grateful to all the people who are supporting me. With the right mentality and proper grind, I will be aiming for good results at the world finals.”

The DOTA 2 team, comprising Moin Ejaz, Shubham Goli, Ketan Goyal, Akshay Dhodi and Abhishek Yadav, began with a 2-0 win against Nepal in the first round but failed to replicate the performance in the final qualifier as they lost to Mongolia by 0-2.

The team, which won bronze at the Commonwealth Games a few months back, had the final chance to qualify in the losers round against Nepal. However, they went down 18-46 and 27-44 in two games which confirmed their exit.

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“We are delighted that Hemanth and Mayank will be representing India at the prestigious GEG 2022 after all of their hard work bore fruit and they prevailed in the national qualifiers. It’s unfortunate that our DOTA 2 team couldn’t make it despite their best efforts. The world finals is going to be a huge spectacle. I wish the best of luck to the athletes and hope they make the country proud by bringing laurels back home,” said Lokesh Suji, Director of Esports Federation of India and Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation.

The upcoming Global Esports Games 2022, organised by the Global Esports Federation, will feature four Esports titles—DOTA 2 (open & women), Street Fighter V, eFootball and PUBGM across PC, mobile and console. ESFI also conducted national qualifiers for women category in DOTA. However, no entries were received for that event.

GEG 2022 will witness top-notch competition in the presence of world-class athletes from countries including Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Ireland.