Indian Esports contestants Ayan Biswas and Mayank Agarwal were eliminated in the street fighter knockout rounds of the Asian Games on Tuesday. Ayan (AYAN01) clinched the top-16 place before suffering tough defeat against Yeh Man Ho of Hong Kong, while Prajapati (MiKeYROG) exited in the round of 32. Ayan clinched a sensational victory by a 2-0 margin against Nguyen Khanh Hung Chau of Vietnam to start his campaign on a winning note before going down 1-2 to Alrayfal Abdulrahman Salem A of Saudi Arabia in the winners bracket Round 1.
He then beat Vietnam's Nguyen, again by a 2-0 margin, in the losers bracket round 2.
However, he fell short against Yeh Man Ho of Hong Kong in the losers bracket round 3 and bowed out of the tournament.
Mayank began his tournament against Rajikhan Talal Fuad T of Saudi Arabia and fought valiantly in a fiercely contested 1-2 defeat. He then endured another loss, against Al-Mannai Abdulla of Qatar, by a 0-2 margin and exited the tournament.
India's DOTA 2 will gear up to recreate its stunning success at the Commonwealth Esports Championships as they take on Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines in their opening group stage matches on Wednesday.
Led by skipper Darshan Bata (A35), the skilled DOTA 2 unit comprising Krish Gupta (Krish-), Abhishek Yadav (Abhi-), Ketan Goyal (Evil-Ash), and Shubham Goli (Madness) has been drawn into Group A, where they are scheduled to compete against Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines in best-of-one single round-robin format matches.
The top-ranked team from this group will advance to face Nepal in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
All matches in the elimination stage for DOTA 2 will be contested in the head-to-head, best-of-three single elimination format. There will be a total of 14 notable teams participating in the title.
"As the captain of the team, I feel an immense sense of responsibility and pride in leading the country's first-ever DOTA 2 team at the Asian Games.
"The entire team has been practicing constantly in the build-up to the tournament as all of us understand the honour of representing India at such a prestigious competition," said Darshan Bata, captain of the Indian DOTA 2 team.
The squad sealed their qualification for the Asian Games by prevailing in the finals of the National Esports Championships (NESC) last year.
The team's experienced players Ketan, Abhishek, and Shubham were part of the squad that scripted history by clinching the bronze medal at last year's inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham.
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