Faker needed under 20 minutes, and India’s League of Legends team leave the Asian Games without a win
India lost to Hong Kong, South Korea and Chinese Taipei on one day in Aichi, and their esports campaign at the Asian Games ends without a medal.
Sep 30, 2026
India’s League of Legends team played their whole Asian Games group on Wednesday at the Aichi Sky Expo, three best-of-one games in a single day. They lost all three, to Hong Kong, South Korea and Chinese Taipei, and finished bottom of Group B.
That was also the last of India’s four esports events in Aichi-Nagoya. None of them has produced a medal.
Hong Kong was the one that mattered
The draw gave India one realistic target, and it came first. South Korea were the defending champions and Chinese Taipei the Hangzhou silver medallists, so Hong Kong looked the winnable one. Hong Kong controlled the map and won it. After that the group was always going to be a climb.
The Korea game went the way most people expected. South Korea started Faker in mid, with Zeus, Canyon, Gumayusi and Keria around him, and it was over in under 20 minutes. India did have a plan. Their jungler, Aakash “Infi” Shandilya, went to the mid lane early and Faker died twice in the opening stretch. It did not slow him down much. He stayed ahead on farm against Akshaj “Kat Bot” Shenoy, Canyon’s Vi took control of the dragons, and a teamfight around the Rift Herald turned into a lead of around 10,000 gold. Gumayusi finished 11/0/1 on Lucian.
Chinese Taipei beat India in India’s last game, and their win over Hong Kong settled second place.
Final Group B table
South Korea won all three and top the group. Chinese Taipei were 2-1, losing only to the Koreans, with Hong Kong 1-2 and India 0-3.
The semi-finals are on Thursday, 1 October, both best-of-three. Vietnam, who won Group A with three wins, play Chinese Taipei at 9am Japan time (5.30am IST). South Korea meet Saudi Arabia at 1.30pm (10am IST). The best-of-five final is on Friday, 2 October.
Four events, no medal
India sent players to eFootball, Puyo Puyo Champions, Pokémon UNITE and League of Legends. The eFootball exit was the hardest to take. Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo did not lose a match, drawing 0-0 with Uzbekistan and getting a win over Mongolia on forfeit, but finished second in their group with a goal difference of zero and missed the next round on that.
Paritosh got furthest. The Puyo Puyo debutant came third in his group with two wins and two losses, then went out in the quarter-finals, beaten 5-0 by South Korea’s Kang Dongshin. The Pokémon UNITE team did not get out of their group.
I don’t think the League of Legends result should surprise anyone. This was a squad from S8UL whose players mostly work or study around the game, up against national sides picked from full-time professional leagues. Korea went through the group without being pushed by anyone, so a quick loss to them is no disgrace. The Hong Kong game is the one I would look at again, because it was winnable, and beating Hong Kong would have sent India into the Chinese Taipei game with a semi-final place still to play for.