A big win for the Esports community as the Government of India has officially recognized Esports and that it will be added to the mainline sports disciplines henceforth.
Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, gave her final consent officially recognizing Esports as she exercised her power as per conferred by clause (3) of article 77 of the Constitution of India. Murmu has asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Sports to include Esports as a part of multi-sports events.
The move comes after a lot of hustle from the Esports community in India. The demand grew when Jakarta Asian Games (2018) were held including Esports as one of their demonstration sports. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the hosting of Esports in June next year where it will be holding Olympic Esports Week between June 22 to 25. The event will be based on both simulated and hybrid physical spots as well as panel discussions, show matches, and education sessions among others.
India has won several accolades within Esports for some time now. For instance, DOTA 2 team from India won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Esports Championship in August this year at Birmingham defeating the team from New Zealand. ESports will make its debut at the Asian Games set to be held in Hangzhou next year.
The Government of India also mentioned that it doesn’t have any plans to limit users’ time spent on online gaming. Earlier, it was reported that the government could levy three hours per week as a limit to games under 18. However, GoI has denied the same.
