“They believed and we did our best” - Shiva Nandi on Skyesports' success after first day of failure

The $300,000 Skyesports Championship Counter-Strike tournament in Mumbai experienced significant disruptions on the first day. Problems with logistics and technical aspects caused discontent among international teams, many of whom expressed disappointment with the organization.

Organizing a major tournament in India, especially with international teams, is a challenge. Despite Skyesports' experience in hosting local events, there were unexpected problems with electricity and other technical aspects, which required the organizers to promptly intervene and adjust the schedule.

Since the tournament started, 12 teams including international squads have participated in the tournament, a unique event for the Indian cyber sports scene. Despite the challenges of the first day, Skyesports was able to successfully run the tournament thanks to a reserve day and prompt troubleshooting measures. In an interview with Dust2 India, Skyesports founder and CEO Shiva Nandy said

We met all the managers and took a decision - 'let's give a break, today off and then we will work on that'. So immediately we got our solutions, and that's why we had a reserved day. We used the reserved day, and solved all the issues within the same day. And from that day till now, I don't think any issues happened.

Shiva Nandy

Shiva Nandy said that the tournament was the first in India to have 11 international teams and this opens up new opportunities for Indian eSports, including media rights and attracting non-local sponsors. Skyesports is also planning to launch souvenir products, which also shows the growing interest in the tournaments and their importance to the industry.

This tournament was an important step for the Indian eSports scene, showing that the country is capable of organizing world-class events. The success of the tournament even after the initial problems confirms that Skyesports can adapt to challenges and deliver high quality events.