“I would love for future Free Fire tournaments to provide more representation to amateurs”: Ajay “Fozy Ajay” Sharma

Ajay “Fozy Ajay” Sharma has been one of the bigger names in the Free Fire esports scene for some time now.

As the IGL for Total Gaming’s roster, Ajay has a lot of responsibilities that he shoulders both in and out of the game. He has been one of the most passionate personalities in the game and has been vocal about how Garena needs to start helping out the nation’s Free Fire amateur scene a bit more in the future.

In a conversation with Abhishek Mallick of Sportskeeda Esports, Ajay opens up about his journey and how his experiences have been so far in Total Gaming and the Free Fire Esports Premier League.

Here in an excerpt.

Q. Ajay, I would love to know how your career took off. Talk to us a bit about your early days and what inspired you to seek a career in playing Free Fire professionally?

Ajay: Playing Free Fire has always been a very fun experience for me. I initially began playing the game as it had a mic feature, which I thought to be rather unique.

I wanted to seek a career in the game after I saw a lot of professional tournaments and got motivated by it. The initial ITL events played a big part in motivating me, because as an audience, Free Fire looked like the game I wanted to invest my time in.

Q. How supportive are your parents of your passion for esports? Have they always had your back?

Ajay: In the beginning, I was a bit more focused on my studies, and as gaming is a whole new realm for Indian parents, it took mine some time to get familiar with the industry.

Once the achievements started to come in and I started playing in the big Asian leagues, they finally started supporting me with what I wanted to do.

Q. You have been a part of Total Gaming’s Free Fire roster for some time now. How has your experience been in the team so far?

Ajay: My time in Total Gaming’s Free Fire roster has been great, and I am currently leading the team. There have been a lot of ups and downs in our journey as a few tournaments did not go as well as we expected them to, but my oldest teammate and friend “bala”, and I stuck together and we are still continuing our grind to the top.

Q. What exact role do you play in the roster? What are some of the responsibilities that you have to shoulder during each game?

Ajay: I play the role of the in-game leader in Total Gaming’s Free Fire roster, and my job is to lead and motivate the rest of my teammates, boost their morale, and create strategies around their unique skill sets.

Q. How is the team coordination coming along? What are your practice sessions like on a day-to-day basis?

Ajay: It has been some time since the roster came together, so we understand each other pretty well now, so the synergy is not the main concern for us at this moment. We are focusing more on developing on our individual skills.

Q. Total Gaming was recently able to secure a spot in the clash round in the Free Fire Esports Premier League. How do you feel about the competition so far?

Ajay: The Free Fire Esports Premier League clash round has been a very new experience for us as a team. Though the game, competition, and format were incredible in themselves, the event did come with its fair share of challenges. It tested us a lot as a team, and I can say that fortunately, we are getting stronger as a result.

Q. What are your thoughts on some of the opportunities that Free Fire ESPL was able to present to the grassroots of the community? What can you say about the rising talent of young mobile esports athletes in the nation?

Ajay: There were not many tournaments before the Free Fire ESPL event, where the competition helped a large portion of the grassroots have equal representation. This is where ESPL stood out for me and I feel that it’s important to help the amateur scene and make a platform for players who are still struggling with their grind and studies, to have good representation.

Q. Now that Total Gaming will be represented under the name of a particular city/state for the remainder of ESPL event. How do you feel about the regional format that the hosts are going for during this tournament?

Ajay: The Fre Fire ESPL’s regional format is something very unique that the hosts are doing, and it’s bringing in an element of fun to the competition. It’s not every day that we get to see something like this.

Q. Apart from being a Free Fire esports athlete, you are also a very avid streamer and content creator. How do you balance these two aspects of your life?

Ajay: I have not been as active on the content creation side of the industry as I would have liked to be. As I am much more focused on my esports career, the professional side of video games will always be my number 1 preference.

Q. What are your thoughts on the current state of the Indian Free Fire esports? What would you say are some of its positives and negatives, and what changes should Garena introduce in the coming months?

Ajay: I would love for Garena to start hosting back-to-back official tournaments, where all players; amateurs and professionals alike, get to have equal representation and opportunity.

Additionally, I feel that Garena should also focus a bit more on their server, as the game is growing exponentially both domestically and internationally, constant bug patches and server updates are very much required.