Tomorrow, esports begins at the Asian Games in Japan. The tournament runs from 23 September to 2 October 2026 at the Aichi International Exhibition Center in Tokoname, and India will be there with a 15-member contingent competing in League of Legends, Pokémon UNITE, eFootball and Puyo Puyo Champions. I’ll be cheering for all of them. But I can’t write this preview honestly without saying what’s bothering me. The game most Indian esports fans actually watch, play and argue about is on the medal program in Aichi, and India won’t be in it.
This piece is for anyone who follows Indian esports and has wondered why the country’s official esports identity looks so different from its real one.
What India is actually playing in Aichi
Start with the good news, because there is some. The League of Legends team, captained by Akshaj Shenoy, earned its place at the Asian Games qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur. Four of its players, Shenoy, Sanindhya Malik, Aakash Shandilya and Mihir Ranjan, were also on India’s roster at the previous Games in Hangzhou. That kind of continuity is rare in Indian esports, and it counts for something. At Hangzhou, the League of Legends side finished fifth, after going out at the quarterfinal stage. A medal this time would be a real breakthrough, and this group has earned the chance to try.
The other three titles show that Indian players can compete across genres. Nobody should sneer at a Puyo Puyo qualifier. Winning a national selection event in anything takes work.
Still, look at that list and then look at what fills Indian arenas. None of these four is the game that sold out the Jaipur Exhibition & Convention Centre this summer.
The game India plays is on the card. India isn’t.
The schedule for the 2026 Games includes PUBG Mobile, alongside Honor of Kings and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Mobile battle royale is part of the Asian Games now, not a sideshow.
Here is how India’s absence was explained. When the selection event dropped the title, organisers pointed to India’s regulatory situation and the ban on PUBG Mobile, plus a very small number of registrations and the lack of a significant community for the game in India.
Read that twice. PUBG Mobile has been banned in India since September 2020, so of course almost nobody registered to play it. The Indian community didn’t disappear. It moved to Battlegrounds Mobile India, which is Krafton’s Indian version of the same game. That community is not small. The BMPS 2026 Grand Finals in Jaipur offered a record ₹4 crore prize pool, and GodLike’s win there sent them to the Esports World Cup as India’s BMPS champions.
The technical objection is real, but it’s narrower than it sounds. BGMI is a separate build from the PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version used at the Games. The name gives it away, though: that’s a special Asian Games build, so it isn’t any country’s everyday version either. I’m not suggesting there’s nothing to adapt to. My point is that the thing keeping Indian players out is paperwork, not a shortfall in skill. You can read the full Asian Games esports schedule and India squad breakdown for how the titles and events are split.
Global organisers have already solved this
This is the part I find hardest to accept. Private tournament organisers and publishers have already found ways around the same problem.
At the Esports World Cup, India’s second PUBG Mobile World Cup slot went to iQOO Orangutan, based on the KRAFTON India Esports Rankings. Indian BGMI players went to Riyadh and competed in a PUBG Mobile event.
The upcoming Esports Nations Cup went a step further. India was one of four countries and territories given a Special Invite, a slot meant for places where technical or structural limitations block the usual qualification route. NODWIN Gaming then named a national BGMI roster led by Nakul Sharma.
So a Saudi-backed tournament and a commercial world cup can each build a workable route for Indian BGMI players. The Asian Games pathway, run by our own federation under a government that now formally calls esports a sport, could not. That gap is the story.
The 2026 rules made esports a sport. Which esports, though?
Credit where it’s due. Since May 1, 2026, India has had a single enforceable framework for online gaming, with formal recognition for esports and a complete ban on online money games. The government’s own note on the Online Gaming Rules presents this as a way to grow esports and social gaming while restricting money games. I’ve argued for years that esports needed exactly that separation from betting apps. We have it now, and our breakdown of what the Online Gaming Rules 2026 change for esports covers the details.
But look at how recognition actually works. A game has to be recognised as an esport under the National Sports Governance Act 2025 before it is treated as one, which links gaming regulation directly to India’s sports framework. Recognition happens one title at a time. NODWIN Gaming’s Akshat Rathee welcomed publisher-led registration of esports titles and the time-bound decision process, and he’s right that this gives the industry certainty. The catch is that the system is only as open as the titles that get pushed through it. A game with banned Chinese-linked origins sits outside the system, however many Indians play its local version. Mobile Legends is in the same position: India has no team in either PUBG Mobile or Mobile Legends, and both absences go back to the 2020 ban on apps with Chinese ownership links.
There’s also a quieter problem that affects players directly. When the rules were notified, industry figures pointed out that financial frameworks for teams and players were still unclear, and that banks struggle to tell esports earnings apart from real-money gaming. A sport whose prize money can trip a bank’s fraud flags is only half recognised.
What I’d ask of ESFI and the ministry
The federation isn’t sitting still, and I want to be fair about that. ESFI sent a TEKKEN 8 pair to the BRICS Esports Championship in Moscow and picked a multi-platform squad for the Global Esports Games in Los Angeles. These are people who know how international selection works.
So here is my request. Before the next Asian Games cycle, publish a written pathway for mobile battle royale. Get Krafton, the Olympic Council of Asia and the ministry in the same room, and find out whether a BGMI-based national qualifier can feed into whatever the Asian Games version turns out to be. If the answer is no, explain the reason in writing, with the actual regulatory obstacle named. “Low registrations” should never again be the official explanation for leaving out the country’s most-watched esport.
Cheer anyway, and watch November
None of this is the fault of the 15 athletes who fly India’s flag this week. Watch the League of Legends games. Support the Pokémon UNITE squad. These players went through a real national selection process, and they deserve our full attention.
Then keep a date in your diary. BGMI at the Esports Nations Cup runs from November 3 to 8 in Riyadh, with 32 teams playing for a USD 1.32 million prize pool. That will be the first time India’s biggest esport plays under a national banner on a global stage, even if it’s not the Asian Games. If the team does well, the argument for bringing BGMI into India’s official sporting pathway gets much harder to wave away.
FAQ
Is BGMI part of the Asian Games 2026?
No. PUBG Mobile is a medal event, but ESFI had already confirmed that no Indian team would take part in that title. BGMI, the Indian version, is not played at the Games. Indian players are sitting out the Asian Games’ mobile battle royale event entirely, even though the genre dominates Indian esports.
Which esports titles is India competing in at the 2026 Asian Games?
India is competing in four titles: League of Legends, Pokémon UNITE, eFootball and Puyo Puyo Champions. The Sports Ministry approved the 15-member contingent in August. The League of Legends team qualified through the continental qualifiers held in Kuala Lumpur.
Do the Online Gaming Rules 2026 recognise esports in India?
Yes. The rules took effect on May 1, 2026, formally recognising esports and banning online money games. Each title has to be recognised individually under the National Sports Governance Act 2025 before it counts as an esport under the new framework.
