"Try and win 10 medals in 2033": Nodwin Gaming's Co-founder Akshat Rathee drops truthbombs regarding India's medal ambitions in Esports (Exclusive)

2025 started strong for Esports fans as the International Olympic Committee announced that the first Olympic Esports Games will be held in Riyadh in 2027. While this definitely comes as great news for Esports fans around the globe, it also raises an important question - Where does India stand in the global Esports landscape? Organised by the Physical Education Foundation Of India (PEFI) in Delhi on April 01, 2025, was the Esports Conclave 2025. The event was supported by Krafton in partnership with Nodwin Gaming, while Invest India served as the event's knowledge partner.

The theme of this event was 'Forging the path to global leadership.' In total, there were three panel discussions with different topics at hand. The subject of the second panel discussion was 'India's medal ambitions in Esports.' This panel saw multiple renowned industry giants including Mr. Minho Yi- Vice President of Krafton, Mr. S.N. Raghuchandran Nair- Vice President and Executive Director of Kerala Olympic Association, Mr. Akshat Rathee- Managing Director and Co-Founder of Nodwin Gaming, Mr. Aman Garg- Chairman of Commonwealth Youth for Sports Development and Peace Council, and Mr. Animesh Aggarwal- Managing Director and CEO of S8UL.

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Akshat Rathee emphasizes the need to tackle grassroots issues in Esports first

There is no denying that Indians have a lot of potential when it comes to Esports. However, the biggest roadblock we are facing at the moment is the lack of adequate resources, such as proper infrastructure, lack of recognition, government support, and industry investments. This is precisely why, before wondering about our medal ambitions in the upcoming Esports Olympics, we must first tackle the grassroots problems.

Akshat believes we need to solve the grassroots level problems first, before focusing on bigger problems (Image via Nodwin Gaming and Sportskeeda)

The panel deliberated the number of medals that India would be able to secure in their debut Olympics and when the country would be able to host the Esports Olympics on their own soil. Addressing this, Mr. Akshat Rathee shed light on what infrastructural milestones we must first achieve before even asking ourselves these questions. Since Akshat has been a key figure in the Indian Esports landscape for a while now, he does flaunt a fair bit of industry knowledge. He pointed out that we must first establish enough training grounds for aspiring athletes.

Moreover, he was brutally honest and stated that we would most likely not win more than one medal in the 2027 Olympics. As far as the next Olympics are concerned, he continued by stating that:

"We should try and win 10 medals...if you want to win 10 medals in 2033, and the peak athlete age for an Esports athlete is 24-years old, when they will win in 10 years time...that means, this year, that athlete or that kid is 15 years old. And this 15 years old needs what we call mastery theory, which is 10,000 hours in that game, in the next 10 years. That's 1,000 hours per year."

Explaining the importance of a school programme for aspiring athletes, he said:

"If this is all true, this kid has to be identified as a childhood prodigy at 13 or 14 years old today. That's where the school programme comes in. If you look at sports as an infrastructure and as a long-term infrastuctural investment for kids that will eventually win in the future, we need to have a scouting programme for 12-15 years old kids today."

"So the scouting programme is what the state infrastructure needs to invest in today. Not to win medals today, right. If you get to win medals today, it's the lighthouse effect of proper scouting."

As interesting and tempting as the dream of hosting the Esports Olympics sounds, it will require a ton of effort from all the stakeholders. Being a part of such an incredible event and listening to what Akshat and others from the panel had to say regarding the topic was actually an eye-opener for me, which leads me to safely conclude that the Indian Esports community's future is in good hands.