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Journalism of Courage
High-speed Wi-Fi access may have reached Kalinagar, a village in Manipur’s border town of Jiribam, just last year, but the lack of good connectivity failed to keep Sanaujam Tirisha Chanu, 25, from becoming one of the top women esports gamers in the country.
Chanu represented the EMP Hotshots, an all-women’s team, at the Battleground Mobile India Challengers Series (BGCS), one of the biggest offline esports tournaments in the country, in New Delhi. The BGCS — featuring BGMI, one of the two most popular mobile games, the other being Call of Duty — began on August 19 and will conclude on September 7.
Competition at the BGCS is as cut-throat as any mainstream sport. Before the Delhi event, thousands of teams and lakhs of players participated in open-for-all online events for a shot at qualifying for the official tournament.
Despite the screen freeze and timed-out game sessions, Chanu has managed to put the football-crazy Manipur — already famous for its women Olympic medallists in weightlifting and boxing — on the esports map.
A good broadband connection is the lifeline for esports, more so for in-game leaders (IGLs) like Chanu, who function like team captains. For Chanu, the chance to participate in a competition where all the gamers were under one roof, in a gaming arena with a local area network (LAN) boosting connectivity, was “surreal”.
“This is the first time I played in a LAN event. It was a surreal feeling,” Chanu, who goes by the gamer name EMPxTirisha, tells The Indian Express.
“When I play online from Jiribam, my teammates understand that if I’m not responding during a game, I’m struggling with my network. There were so many scrims (practice matches) during which my team had to suffer because of the poor network in my house,” she adds.
As the IGL for her squad, she was responsible for devising strategies, issuing instructions and guiding her team during a match. In a sport dominated by a teenage fan base, Chanu was worried about becoming the target of online trolling after her team failed to advance to the BGMI Masters Series (BGMS) play-offs stage. “It was a huge responsibility, but I tried my best,” she says.
These are not the only hurdles she has faced.
With her father recently suffering a heart attack and her mother recovering from a broken knee, Chanu, the eldest of two siblings, said she had to balance her esports ambitions with her responsibilities.
Her parents run an artificial jewellery business. While her mother manages a shop, located not too far from their house in Jiribam, her father travels to Fulertal, over 10 km away in the neighbouring Assam, daily to run another small outlet.
“I would complete all household chores — cleaning, cooking, everything — before my parents returned home. If I had to go to the market, I would try to be back by 5-6 pm to make dinner and start gaming by 7 pm. I would play till midnight. This was my schedule (for a while),” she says.
Her breakthrough came when she received a message from Sravya Bashikarla, who goes by the gamer name EMPxLara. Impressed with Chanu’s skills, Sravya reached out and even helped her get a player contract. They are now teammates on EMP Hotshots.
Then, before Chanu made a name for herself in esports, there was the battle of perception. “It was difficult to make my parents understand what I do. For the longest time, they used to think I was just wasting my time on video games. But now, when they see me on television, they are very proud,” she says.
Despite the participation of women in esports doubling in India over the past four years, according to a survey by Lumikai, a venture capital firm focused on gaming, and esports being a medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games, video-gaming is still widely perceived as a casual pursuit.
NODWIN Gaming, the organiser of BGCS, said its aim was to provide equal opportunities to all-women’s teams. One of the first to reserve spots for all-women’s teams, of its 24 teams, 20 comprise only male players.
“Despite performing well, skilled all-women line-ups often went unrecognised. However, things began to shift when women players started joining male teams as the fifth player,” says Ananya Bose, NODWIN Gaming’s project executive.
“We wanted to take this further by giving full all-women line-ups a platform at this event. They are supported with dedicated women player managers. This is a positive step towards promoting inclusivity,” Bose adds.
Back in Jiribam, people tuned in to follow the fortunes of the first esports star from the district. Chanu said her family and friends called and messaged constantly during the BGCS. “My friend said that people were asking about you at home. When my father steps out, they ask him about esports,” Chanu says.
Still pinching herself on being a part of an all-women’s team at a national championship, Chanu has just one wish for when she returns home to Kalinagar: “A stable Wi-Fi connection.”
