Krafton, the developer of Battlegrounds Mobile India, hosted one of the biggest LAN tournaments in the country: the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2024. The BGIS 2024 LAN event featured the top 16 teams out of the thousands that registered for the tournament three months ago. The Voices captured the essence of gaming and esports in the country at this LAN fest.
The event had a prize pool of Rs 2,00,00,000 and the winning team, Team XSpark walked away with the lion’s share of the prize pool, Rs 60,00,000.
The gates of the venue opened at 11:00 AM for the audience. The first left from the entry gate took the audience to their seating area. Straight from the entry gate, the second left took to the media lounge and VIP area, where the teams’ management and owners were seated.
The stage was elevated so that the whole arena – which has a total seating capacity of 4500 – can see the 64 players compete on the big screen.
As the days progressed, the matches became more intense, with the audience cheering louder for their favorite teams and players. Fans showed up with placards and banners to show their support and some of the team owners came with the flags of their teams.
Some audience members were seen showing off the jerseys of their favorite teams. When asked by The Voices where they got the jersey from, they said they received them in a merchandise giveaway hosted by one of the teams. Team XSpark had promised their fans 100 uniquely numbered jerseys during the three-day-long event.
As the days progressed, Team XSpark took the lead on the points table and the tension was at its peak. With 16 teams, playing, The Voices spotted not just fans, but also parents and family members who had come from their respective hometowns to support their kids.
The third day was full of action-packed games and multiple announcements. This was also when Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, announced their association with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. The foundation run by Olympian Abhinav Bindra has been working towards promoting sports science in India and contributing to the development of a better sporting ecosystem in the country. The proceeds from the VIP tickets went to the foundation. Additionally, Sean Hyunil Sohn presented Abhinav Bindra with a cheque for Rs 25,00,000.
Blood, Sweat and Tears at BGIS 2024
During the last match, Team XSpark was targeted by multiple teams and was eliminated in the early stages of the game. The silence in the arena spoke louder than a thousand words, and in a corner, a mother was praying for her son’s team to win the coveted event despite their elimination.
The match ended with Team XSpark emerging victorious despite all odds, and the crowd erupted in cheers. The audience, along with Team owner Tanmay Singh and their coach Rahul “Osmium” Sharma, was teary-eyed at BGSI 2024.
Then, at the much-awaited trophy-lifting ceremony all the team members and management reached on stage to lift the trophy they had waited three seasons to bring home.
Team XSpark’s victory at the event was a story of hard work, toil, and determination. The team was eliminated from the invited round and had to fight their way to the top through the open qualifiers, which saw over 5,000 teams from India taking part. With this, Tanmay Singh lifted his first trophy as a team owner, and the team, as a unit, won its first official tournament: BGIS 2024.
Edited by Gaiety Bhabya