At 24, Akshaj Shenoy is heading again to the Asian Video games as captain of India’s League of Legends staff. However changing into knowledgeable participant was by no means a part of the unique plan.He began enjoying for enjoyable. Then got here the tournaments, higher opponents and extra time spent understanding the aggressive aspect of the sport. There was no single second when he determined esports would grow to be a career.“It occurred steadily as I acquired higher alternatives and began seeing how far I may take it,” Shenoy informed Timesofindia.com.By the point India reached the Asian Video games in Hangzhou, Shenoy was learning Economics, Sociology and Industrial Relations whereas enjoying professionally and coordinating apply with teammates primarily based in several cities.Three years on, he’s returning because the captain and 4 of the six gamers who will characterize India in League of Legends at Aichi-Nagoya have been a part of the Hangzhou marketing campaign, the place India completed fifth. Ahmed Shahid and Rahul Bisht are the 2 newcomers.“We glance again at Hangzhou with a whole lot of delight, but additionally realizing that we may have gone additional,” Shenoy stated. “As soon as you have skilled that stage and seen that you would be able to compete with among the finest groups in Asia, you naturally really feel that there is extra you possibly can obtain.”
A recreation that calls for 5 gamers to suppose as one
League of Legends is a 5v5 team-based technique recreation by which gamers management distinctive characters, referred to as champions, and work collectively to destroy the opposing staff’s Nexus, the central construction of their base. Every staff has 5 roles, specifically Prime, Jungle, Mid, ADC and Help, with every serving a unique perform. Gamers have totally different roles and obligations, however on the skilled degree, communication and decision-making are as vital as particular person ability.“You are continuously serious about the place the opponents might be, what they could do subsequent and the way it’s best to reply,” Shenoy stated. “On the identical time, you are managing your individual assets, positioning, timing and making an attempt to make choices primarily based on what your teammates are doing.”The sport was launched in 2009 and has grown into one of many world’s main esports titles, with skilled competitions throughout areas and an annual World Championship.For India, nonetheless, the problem is much less about discovering individuals who play the sport and extra about creating sufficient high-level competitors for gamers to develop towards. Shenoy has seen that distinction first-hand.
The group that stayed collectively
After Hangzhou, among the Indian gamers continued competing collectively in home and South Asian League of Legends tournaments. They performed extra tournaments, received titles and spent extra time as a unit. That continuity additionally gave them a greater understanding of how every participant communicates and reacts in several conditions.S8UL signed the group in 2025, giving the gamers a extra structured atmosphere round coaching and competitors.For S8UL co-founder and CEO Animesh Agarwal, that continuity is likely one of the roster’s greatest strengths. He stated the gamers had spent years “enjoying collectively, adapting to totally different aggressive environments and growing a robust understanding of one another’s recreation”.The roster received Legends Ascend South Asia in 2025 and later competed within the LCP Promotion Wild Card Playoffs, ending fifth.“Enjoying towards stronger regional groups gave us invaluable expertise and confirmed us the place we nonetheless wanted to enhance,” Shenoy stated.
Six gamers, six totally different routes
Shenoy is the obvious hyperlink between the 2 Asian Video games campaigns.The Kochi-based 24-year-old was a part of India’s Hangzhou staff and his esports profession has run alongside training and work. Earlier than Hangzhou, he was learning three topics whereas enjoying professionally and coordinating apply periods for teammates primarily based in several cities. His dad and mom, he stated, have been supportive of his decisions.Right this moment, he’s making ready for an MBA and helps along with his father’s enterprise.Again house, a lot of his day goes into learning and dealing on the enterprise. Round 8 pm, he will get on-line along with his teammates, with apply usually persevering with till 1 am as a result of everybody has totally different research and jobs to work round.“I’ve all the time loved gaming and, extra importantly, the aggressive aspect of esports, so it stays an enormous a part of my life,” he stated.Mihir Ranjan is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate primarily based in Delhi. Aakash Shandilya is from Noida and works as a cloud engineering intern. Sanindhya Malik is predicated in Mauritius and works with Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.Ahmed Shahid, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Aligarh, and 29-year-old Rahul Bisht, a product designer and entrepreneur from Bengaluru, are making their Asian Video games debuts.The six gamers arrive at Aichi-Nagoya with very totally different lives outdoors the sport. For many of them, esports has needed to match round training, jobs and different obligations relatively than exchange them.
What Hangzhou left behind
The primary Asian Video games look gave Shenoy a unique understanding of what it meant to play for India. “What I bear in mind most is strolling on the market and realising that we have been representing India on such an enormous stage,” Shenoy stated. “There was a whole lot of delight, but additionally a way of duty that got here with sporting the India jersey.”The expertise additionally confirmed the gamers what was required to compete towards Asia’s strongest groups. “We have had a number of years since then to develop collectively, compete at the next degree and perceive what it takes to carry out on a stage like this,” he stated.The 4 returning gamers know what the stage appears like. Ahmed has been across the group for a very long time regardless of making his Asian Video games debut, whereas Rahul has tailored shortly through the preparations, in accordance with Shenoy.“On the finish of the day, we belief one another, and my job is to ensure everybody feels comfy sufficient to play their very own recreation when the strain is at its highest.”
The hole India remains to be making an attempt to shut
Shenoy has additionally seen India’s esports atmosphere grow to be extra organised since Hangzhou, with extra tournaments, organisations and alternatives for gamers. However he believes the hole with the main League of Legends areas stays clear.“The largest distinction might be the quantity of standard high-level competitors and the depth of the participant pool,” Shenoy stated.In Korea, China and Vietnam, gamers are surrounded by robust competitors and have extra alternatives to check themselves towards high-level opposition.Indian gamers have needed to be extra proactive find these alternatives. “In India, we have needed to be extra proactive about discovering these alternatives and studying from each worldwide occasion we get to play,” Shenoy stated.Enjoying collectively constantly has helped the group develop its communication and understanding, whereas S8UL has supplied a extra skilled atmosphere across the staff.Becoming a member of the organisation, Shenoy stated, gave the gamers extra help with coaching and preparation and the boldness to look past India. “It additionally gave us extra confidence to look past the Indian ecosystem and take worldwide competitors severely,” he stated.However he sees a longer-term requirement for the sport in India.“There are extra organisations, tournaments and alternatives for gamers to construct a profession,” Shenoy stated. “On the identical time, League of Legends nonetheless wants a deeper participant pool and extra common high-level competitors in India.”For the subsequent era, he desires clearer pathways into aggressive play. “The curiosity and expertise are undoubtedly there. The following step is constructing an ecosystem that may maintain that expertise over the long run.”
South Korea, Chinese language Taipei and Hong Kong await
India has been drawn alongside South Korea (2022 Asian Video games Gold Medallist), Chinese language Taipei (2022 Asian Video games Silver Medallist) and Hong Kong in Group B at Aichi-Nagoya. For Shenoy, the group affords a direct measure of how a lot Indian League of Legends has developed.The established Asian areas have deeper participant swimming pools and extra common high-level competitors. Enjoying towards them means testing how shortly the Indian gamers could make choices, adapt and reply underneath strain, however India shouldn’t be travelling merely to watch.“We do not need to go in considering we’re merely there to study,” Shenoy stated. “We have ready severely and we need to compete.”“What they see on stage is the results of years of labor behind the scenes,” he stated. “There are numerous hours of apply, travelling, learning the sport and balancing esports with training, jobs and life outdoors gaming.”“For us, sporting the India jersey is one thing we have labored in direction of for a very long time. It is an enormous duty, but it surely’s additionally a privilege.”