At the ongoing Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, an Indian Hearthstone player has bagged the nation’s first bronze medal in eSports. eSports was added to the Asian Games lineup as a demonstration event this year and included popular titles like League of Legends, Starcraft II, Hearthstone, PES 2018, Clash Royale and Arena of Valor.
According to a recent report from BGR on the matter, Tirth ‘gcttirth’ Mehta qualified for the main event in Jakarta after winning the Indian Qualifiers, organized by the Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI), and the South Asian Qualifiers, where he managed to maintain an undefeated streak against players from Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The main event at Jakarta was in a single elimination bracket format, where losing a match means elimination. gcttirth managed to defeat the player from Japan in a close-series win and qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals he faced Lo ‘Kin0531’ Tsz-kin from Hong Kong, the eventual gold winner, and lost 2-3. He then defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Tuan to secure the third spot. Hendry ‘Jothree’ Koentarto Handisurya from Indonesia took the silver medal.
Talking about his win, Tirth was quoted saying:
“Feeling really happy and excited to win a bronze medal for India in Hearthstone. Hope this event/medal inspires other Indian eSports athletes to compete at their level best as well and get more medals for India. We will get more medals and gold at the next Asian Games where eSports will be a medal sport.”
Lokesh Suji, VP of Asian eSports Federation and director of ESFI, the organization that made it all possible, was also quoted saying, “Tirth has made history, he has written his name in goldern words in history of Indian eSports, he is the first ever Indian eSports athlete to win a medal in Asian Games.” As mentioned earlier, eSports will be a medal event at the Asian Games 2020 and Tirth’s victory will pave the way for the emergence of more eSports talent in the country.
