Building The ESports Scenario! - Rich Rakesh

“2007 marked the beginning of my story with FIFA on console. Being the first competitive FIFA player from Odisha, I traversed on a road that was new to our community back then. Getting on the platform of ‘Indian Lan Gaming’ was in itself a massive achievement for me. DGamerz, BBSR, played a very important role in bringing the competitive scenario into the state and into my life by organizing a lot of tournaments everywhere.

Between 2017 and 2019, I had played in all major college fests and local tournaments and lost around 30 tournaments. I didn’t have a console of my own to practice on, and I kept trying and pushing myself towards a victory. 2019 proved to be a turning point for me, and I won both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar IGL Minor. I then tried for the regional rounds, and I even made it to the semi-finals in Kolkata and Mumbai. That was when I bought a PS4 of my own, and that helped me a lot to practice more and more.

Eventually, with all my hard work and consequent achievements, my reputation as a competitive player rose. I participated and won in several other tournaments, and I also started organizing tournaments for budding talents of the town. As I got in touch with a few well-known gaming brands, I got more exposure, and finally, I started the first virtual pro club of Odisha, by the name of “Utkal Putras”. I intend to put more work into it, so that we can reach greater heights.

A lot of esports club have tried to recruit me, but I deny all offers because I want to build the first pro esports club in Odisha. Odisha has amazing gamers, but they are unseen and unknown. I hope, one day, Odia gamers get the deserved recognition that we withhold from them, but freely give to gamers of other states and countries.” – Rich Rakesh.