Representing India Internationally!

E-sports has become a platform for young gamers; as a matter of fact, it has been evolving over the years. While this platform has seen immense changes and response from the next-gen.

The Olympic committee is mulling to include e-sports and competitive video gaming is expected to be part of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.Pole to Win International (PTW), a video games and tech services outsourcer, recently announced the launch of a top-tier esports team – Orange Rock.

The team is composed of former members from the Indian Tigers as well as other top pro players. The team is already one of the top three teams in India and has qualified for the ESL championship in Milan and trending as the fan favourite in India. The Orange Rock Esports team is currently undergoing in an exclusive Bootcamp in Hyderabad, India.

They will be training together for the next two months under the management of Bharat Kiran Reddy (also known as Ribbi) who is a legend in the pro-Esports community in India. Orange Rock Esports will have its first chance to compete as a team in late September, having qualified for the Vodaphone 5G PUBG Mobile finals in Milan, representing India. Orange Rock has already prevailed over 500 other teams playing in India to place first in the qualifying rounds.

Ravi Teja, who is in-charge of esports India at PTW, said: "I make sure to set up a boot camp for the team, we are trying to provide a platform for them so that they do not worry of the external things like booking tickets and other related things.

The international esports competition will be played at Milan where these four players will be participating. These guys are from different parts of the country like Surat, Nagaland and Punjab. They used to play together at home and so we set a boot camp where we found them and place them in an apartment so that they could bond and discuss the team strategy."

The four players who will represent India are Harmandeep Singh (Mavi); Chisin Raingam (Ex1stence); Gopal Gajanand Sarda (CARRY); Arashmeet Sandhu (Sandhu). They seemed excited as they would be the pioneers of the esports championship (PUBG) from our country.

"Each of us started playing at different stages of our lives. Mavi started playing in the year 2017. Sandhu around three years ago. While three of us started recently. Ex1stence started playing 'Counter Strike 1.6' when he was 10 years old," Gopal aka CARRY shared.

The team practices for six hours a day and then they review the games with their coach and manager.

Playing continuously for hours altogether may affect the health of youngsters. "Each game of PUBG is around 30-35 minutes after which we take a break. During these breaks, we get a chance to stretch, walk around and hydrate. We also try to work out as much as possible. Orange Rock encourages us to work out and maintain a balance," Arashmeet said.

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The team also shared that they stay up through the night and sleep around 4 am and wake up by noon. "We need to be rested to focus during our practice hours. We stay up late since this is the time most of the PRO teams play practice matches with one another," he added.

When asked how it feels to represent India on an international platform, the team in unison said, "The feeling is unimaginable. Representing India on the world stage is every sportsman's dream whether it is esports, cricket or any other game. All we want to do is make our county and our fans proud."