India Storms into Female CS:GO Asian Championship; Outclasses Sri Lanka in South Asian Qualifiers

Living up to their name, India’s female CS:GO team performed to the best of their abilities to convincingly prevail against Sri Lanka in the South Asian Qualifiers and advance to the IESF Asian Championship which is set to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 10-17, 2023.

Led by team captain Swayambika Sachar (Sway) the vibrant team comprising Nidhi Salekar (Stormyyy), Shagufta Iqbal (xyaa), Dilraj Kaur Matharu (COCO), and Aastha Nangia (CrackShot) made lightwork of Sri Lanka by defeating them by 16-3, 16-0 in the best-of-three matchup.

With an efficient and flawless display on both maps, the team lost only three rounds in the entire series courtesy of the individual brilliance of their roster that helped them thoroughly dominate the opposition.

Swayambika Sachar, captain of the female Indian CS:GO team, said: “We are extremely proud to have secured our spot in the Asian qualifiers and to represent India amongst all the elite teams from the continent. It is a remarkable achievement for all of us, and I couldn’t be happier with our scintillating performance against Sri Lanka in the South Asia regionals. The team has improved significantly in the last few months and we are constantly working on improving our gameplay by strategizing and practicing rigorously. We want to be at our very best when we compete in the offline qualifiers in Riyadh and are determined to secure a spot for the Grand Finals in Romania.”

The five-member team created history by becoming the very first all-female CS:GO team to qualify for the South Asian regional qualifiers by defeating Team Purr-ple in the finals of the National Esports Championships (NESC) 2023, conducted by the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) earlier this year.

They will now take on the female CS:GO outfits from Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong in a bid to qualify for the 15th World Esports Championships (WEC) in Iasi from August 24 to September 4, 2023.

“Our female CS:GO team has grown leaps and bounds as a unit since the NESC 2023 and their success in the South Asian qualifiers is a testament to that. Their journey so far has been inspiring for all the women gamers in India that seek a career in Esports. As they embark on the upcoming Asian Championship, we extend our heartfelt wishes for their continued success and firmly believe in their ability that will help them advance to the 15th WEC,” said Vinod Tiwari, President, Esports Federation of India.

India’s DOTA 2 team comprising skipper Manav Kunte (mnz), Vishal Vernekar (HBK), Abhishek Yadav (Abhi-), Shahbaz Hussain (PinkMaN), Krish Gupta (Krish`), and substitute Jaikishan Malik (KaEL) shall be commencing with their South Asian qualifiers from May 15 onwards.

The Indian CS:GO (Open) team comprising of team captain Harsh Jain (f1redup), Jaspreet Singh (SpawN), Sadab Khan (SK wow^), Piyush Kalwania (clouda), Nikhil Kathe (N1kace) and substitute Omkar Thube (omkar09) already secured their place for the Asian Regionals on May 8.

The country’s well-renowned Tekken 7 professional Abhinav Tejan and eFootball athlete Ibrahim Gulrez have already secured their qualification at the 15th WEC that has a whopping prize pool of $500,000 (INR 4.12 crore), and is set to be the largest edition of the tournament to date with at least 130 countries participating in eFootball, DOTA 2, Tekken7, Mobile Legends, PUBG: Mobile and CS:GO.