National esports championship: Shikhar, Karthik, Temple of Kings secure Asian Games berth

Shikhar Choudhary, Karthik Verma, and the Temple of Kings team excelled at the National Esports Championships to secure their berths in the Asian Games.

Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Verma (in picture) have qualified for the Asian Games. - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Shikhar Choudhary, Karthik Varma, and the Team Temple of Kings excelled at the National Esports Championships on Monday - in Hearthstone and League of Legends categories respectively - and secured their berths in the Asian Games.

Shikhar outperformed Karthik Varma Vegesna 3-1 and 3-2 in the best-of-three final clash of Hearthstone, while Temple of Kings - comprising of captain Akshaj Shenoy, Samarth Arvind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan, Aditya Selvaraj, Aakash Shandilya and Sanindhya Malik - thrashed Team Coco Cats 3-0 comfortably in the best-of-five grand finals.

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Shikhar was impressive throughout the championships. He caused the biggest upset of the tournament when he beat Tirth Mehta in the semifinals. Tirth had won the bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games.

“This moment gives me a sense of accomplishment and honour that my diligence and commitment finally paid off,” Shikhar said.

In League of Legends, Temple of Kings lived up to the expectations and remained unbeaten.

“We are really happy that we made it out of really competitive national qualifiers for the tournament. It’s an honour to be part of Team India at a global level and represent India at the prestigious Asian Games. It’s a dream come true for all of us and the full credit for this feat goes to all my team members,” Team India League of Legends captain Akshaj said.

The 2022 Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 10 to 25.