Cover And Thumbnail Image Courtesy: City.Kharkov
Former professional CS:GO player and in-game leader for Natus Vincere Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko recently met Hennadiy Kernes who is the mayor for the city of Kharkiv, along with a few of his colleagues to discuss a number of esports related projects.
The two of them discussed the following esports initiatives to be implemented in the city of Kharkiv,
At the meeting, Zeus pointed out that Ukraine currently ranks fourth in the world of esports, but certainly has the capability to be number one. Proposing an idea to create an esports arena in Kharkiv with a seating capacity of at least 5,000 spectators.
The mayor supported the ideas discussed and instructed Zeus “to prepare a detailed plan for the implementation of the project for the next meeting,” as he went on to state that,
"I support all your initiatives, hobbies, and achievements. I am proud that you are from Kharkiv, that we have guys here who glorify not only themselves but also our city. I am ready to take part, but we need to take this issue seriously.”
Zeus went on to list a few prominent esports athletes from Kharkiv like Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev, Mykhailo "kane" Blagin, and Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov, who have achieved great feats in the world of esports, to show the potential of talent within the city.
The city of Kharkiv has been actively supporting and promoting esports since 2016. Helping in the operation of pro100 Academy which is a CS:GO team for upcoming athletes, by handling the expenses of all the children being trained out of the city budget.
The future for esports athletes from Kharkiv looks quite bright as the government shows a great response to the growing industry, already supporting an academy team while actively seeking more initiatives to supplement its growth.