ESFI allegedly told Indian roster to not participate in DOTA 2 Regional Qualifiers of Commonwealth Games, claims Capt. Moin Aijaz

Esports Federation of India (ESFI) has now been caught in a controversy that has left the Indian gaming community questioning the legitimacy of the body. For context, ESFI is registered under the Asian Esports Federation (AESF), the body which organizes esports in Asian Games. Regardless, the Indian wing, which is extremely vocal about its ‘support’ and ‘efforts’ for flourishing esports in India, has been on the receiving end of flak before. The “terms and conditions” that it set for participants during Asian Games 2018 were also subject to controversy within the Indian gamers and esports community.

This time, the captain of the DOTA 2 team of India, has spoken up against the committee. Moin Aijaz who recently secured the bronze in the Commonwealth Esports Championship 22, has called the ESFI out on social media. His Facebook posts are now being virally shared through the esports and the gaming community. Here are all the details of everything that went down. 

Details of the development of the latest controversy around ESFI

First statement from Moin Aijaz of DOTA 2 Team India 

It all started with a Facebook post by Moin Aijaz on 30th August. Aijaz divulged details of what allegedly went down between his roster from the recent Commonwealth Esports Championship and the ESFI. This was right after their bronze grab at the recent Commonwealth Esports Championship. 

For the upcoming 14th World Esports Championship, which eventually will lead to the Asian Games 22 (now postponed to 2023), Aijaz wrote that India’s DOTA 2 team requested a change in the roster. Without prior notice, the ESFI has declined their request and has presented them with an ultimatum of backing out if they don’t agree to continue with the same roster. 

Aijaz highlighted how it is important to provide more DOTA 2 players with exposure, instead of forcing the same set of athletes to play, even if they are unable to. To these public allegations and claims of Moin Aijaz, the ESFI too posted an official statement on 31st August, in response to the statements.
 

ESFI's response to Aijaz's claims

They mainly point out that the names to be included in the roster had to be submitted as early as April 2022. As per the guidelines, no changes can be made hence, with enough accommodations for substitute players in case of unforeseen circumstances. However, they also add that they reportedly made an “extraordinary exception” during India’s DOTA 2 team’s participation in the Commonwealth Esports Championship 2022. The team had reportedly requested to change Krish Nitin Gupta with Vishal which was seen through.

There has reportedly been a second request for the same for the Asian Games,  a claim by the ESFI that has been dismissed by Moin Aijaz. Furthermore, the statement added the committee has received a complaint internally from a team member, accusing Moin of “changing the roster on his own and playing politics”. 

Other than that, ESFI’s official statement majorly focuses on how every step and decision that they take, is for “formalising the efforts of making esports legitimate, recognised as a sport and also attract sponsorships, investments and avenues for every esports athlete.” ESFI’s main objective is reportedly to nurture and coach the Indian DOTA 2 team enough to be able to win in the WEC, and Asian Games, and not just to help them participate. 

 

Aijaz's response to ESFI's statement

The entire statement from ESFI, which directly stated that “claims made by Moin are completely baseless and lack understanding of the fair working of the selection process for any international tournaments where countries are represented", was immediately contested by Aijaz in another Facebook post from 31st August. 

Here, he claimed how the ESFI was not even letting the team participate in the Regional Qualifiers for DOTA 2 of the Commonwealth Games. They were asked to retract from their participation, due to the lack of funds to send an Indian team to Birmingham to compete.

In response to this, Aijaz claims that the team took the responsibility on their own shoulders, arranging for their own VISAs and even sponsors to send them to the Regional Qualifiers. The ESFI ultimately informed them that they were unable to reach an agreement with the sponsors, while they forbade the team from taking the sponsorship directly.

Aijaz writes, “At the end of this ordeal they somehow managed to book us tickets to Birmingham and acted as if they were doing us a huge favour by sending us there. After we won the bronze medal ESFI started acting as if they had supported us throughout our journey and facilitated us in achieving this objective when infact they were our biggest hinderance.” 

As we’ve mentioned already, Aijaz has also dismissed the ESFI’s claim of the team asking for replacement of members during the upcoming Asian Games. Additionally, Aijaz has asked the ESFI to name the team member that they claim has been harassed by Moin Aijaz. No further comments have yet been posted by ESFI following this statement from Aijaz.
 

Reaction from the international e-sports community 

The issue has now received the attention of athletes from all across the world, and players have spoken up against the legitimacy of the ESFI and other such committees. Valorant player from Pakistan retweeted Aijaz’s post, calling out the ESFI, and comparing it with the Pakistan Esports Federation. Twitch TV India’s founder, Mohit Rajgaria also retweeted Aijaz’s post, expressing his disappointment at the ESFI. 

Earlier too, the ESFI was accused of not contributing to the betterment of the esports community of India in any way. They reportedly made people sign contracts that specified that the ESFI will not be responsible for any kind of payments to players, including that of transport. And this was just one of the allegations that have been made against the ESFI.