The 6th edition of the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup’s (TEGC) grand finale received a stupendous response from participants and audience alike. Professional gamers from across the country converged in Mumbai to battle it out at India’s most prestigious eSports championship on 27th & 28th Sept. at Infiniti Mall, Malad (W), Mumbai. Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (MOEA), TEGC is India’s longest running eSports championship.
This year’s edition featured a collection of games including PUBG Mobile, DOTA 2 and CS:GO. The elimination rounds for TEGC 2019 kicked off in June for the pan-India championship with an impressive line-up of cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Silchar, Kolkata, Pune and Mumbai.
This year’s edition too included a unique initiative where India’s most loved sport lent exciting support (cricket) to India’s fastest growing sport. To grace the grand finale, TEGC invited some of India’s biggest cricketing legends including Zaheer Khan, Kiran More and Abey Kuruvilla.
The total TEGC prize money of Rs 10 lakh was split among the teams at the grand finale. The winning teams of (CS:GO) U Mumba Esports and (DOTA 2) Global Esports took home Rs. 2 lakh each, teams Blaze Esports (CS:GO) and Entity Gaming (DOTA 2) won the second place with Rs. 1 lakh each, and teams JHS (CS:GO) & Whoops! (DOTA 2) and teams Iyati (CS:GO) & Wipeout (DOTA 2) winning the third and fourth place with Rs. 50,000 each. The teams finishing 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th took home Rs 25,000 each respectively.
Speaking at the finale, Michelle Lin, Deputy Director of Strategic Marketing Department of TAITRA said, “TEGC has always focused on giving passionate gamers a chance to experience great gaming on some of the best and most innovative gaming products from Taiwan “TEGC is not just India’s longest running gaming championship, we are also one of the few properties who work towards the overall development of gamers and gaming industry in India. This year, we had amongst us cricket legends like Zaheer Khan, Kiran More and Abey Kuruvilla.”
The eSports industry in India is booming at a rapid pace since the last few years. Pegged at Rs 5,540 crore (FY19), it is poised for high growth with a likely 22.1% CAGR taking it to Rs 11,880 crore by 2023, as per KPMG India. There is a large commercial opportunity for the players in the ecosystem and championships like TEGC are giving a major boost to the industry.
