ESL announces Top Tier $300,000 Dota 2 Tournament in Mumbai, India

What's the story?

After the DreamHack Mumbai 2018 tournament, Nodwin Gaming and ESL have now partnered to host the country's very first Premium Dota 2 Tournament.

The $300,000 dollar tournament was officially unveiled on ESL's official website earlier today.

In case you didn't know...

India is a country that has lagged behind in Esports. But since last year, Esports has steadily been growing all throughout the country. Indian Esports made a huge leap forward in CSGO last year hosting a Dreamhack Invitational event in Mumbai. The event was won by South Africa's Bravado Gaming. Now, ESL has announced the first ever Dota 2 event in India.

🇮🇳 12 teams, $300,000 prize pool, one epic party! Introducing India's first-ever #Dota2 mega event: #ESLOne Mumbai 2019! 👉 https://t.co/avUhRooLNU pic.twitter.com/IVVhn8Jryf

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) January 15, 2019

This marks the biggest Esports tournament ever to be held in India as Top tier teams are expected to be present in Mumbai for the tournament.

The heart of the matter

The event officially named "ESL One Mumbai 2019" will run from 19th April to 21st April at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai.

Twelve teams from all over the World will be participating in the tournament. Seven teams will be invited to the event by ESL. Five teams will qualify via Open Qualifiers, including an Indian team as India will have its own exclusive Local Qualifier.

The prize pool for the event will be $300,000 as it is for all ESL One events. Tickets will go live in just a day and you can visit this page for said tickets and other information regarding the event if you want to attend it.

It will also be ESL's second event of the year after ESL One Katowice takes place in February. Just to put things in perspective, defending TI Champions OG, Team Secret, Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas and EHome are all invited to Katowice. We should expect the same for Mumbai.

What's next?

This is a HUGE step forward for the Indian Esports scene as this will be the first ever big tournament to be held in India. As ESL One Tournaments are pretty prestigious, quite a few Tier 1 teams will be present at the event competing for their share of the spoils.