Pakistan Valorant Players Disheartened Amidst Valorant Challengers League South Asia

Amidst all the excitement about the Valorant Challengers League South Asia, esports athletes from Pakistan talked about the difficulties they are facing. While the rule book states players from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and Maldives can take part in the tournament, the tournament organizers have made it clear that it will be the sole responsibility of the players or the teams to ensure that the players get a visa for India should they qualify for the league stage of the competition. The Pakistani players, however, claim that it will be impossible for them to show up to a LAN in India by acquiring visas, given the political climate.

Many Pakistani Valorant players and influential figures including former Reckoning Esports player Muhammad "soulM8" Usman, Moiz Saleem Khan aka MSKVal, Mustafa “Shooter” Kamal and Abdul "k1Ng" Khero shared their thoughts about the situation on social media.

Players question their future in Valorant esports

While players in the South Asian region were thrilled at the initial announcement about the Valorant Challengers League South Asia, Valorant esports players from Pakistan expressed their concerns about their future in the esport. 

On 16th January, even before the announcement by NODWIN Gaming and Riot Games, Shooter tweeted, “As a Pakistani player I am really concerned where do we stand in the upcoming challenger league for South Asia, if the event is happening in India how will we be able to participate in the LAN event?”

Given the situation, the players have questioned whether Pakistan would be moved to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. k1Ng expressed his disappointment noting that Pakistani players shifted from CS: GO to Valorant in hopes of starting a better career. He said, “I believe the only sole solution would be to shift PK [Pakistan] to MENA but I believe Riot doesn't have enough time to make a decision about the Pakistani players. We knew that this would happen soon when the COVID situation eases but didn't expect this from Riot. Utterly disappointed.”

MSKVal also criticized the tournament organizers for being “tone deaf” going into the Valorant Challengers League South Asia tournament without addressing “the elephant in the room.” He pointed out that the default region in-game is set to MENA for players from Pakistan but tournament organizers continue to group Pakistan in South Asia. 

Meanwhile, soulM8 announced that he is no longer a part of Reckoning Esports and that he is no longer playing Valorant competitively. On 22nd February, he said, “I'm no longer part of @ReckoningIndia VALORANT, and I'm no longer playing VALORANT competitively as all LAN/Leagues will be held in India. I have not yet seen any statement from them regarding the Pakistani region.” Talking about his future, he noted that he will be playing a few CS: GO qualifiers and will retire from gaming if he does not get a positive response regarding the region.