Fans Praise Influence Chemin for Featuring Indian Flag on Its PMGC 2022 Jersey
Cover-Credits:
The grand finals of the PUBG Mobile Global Championship (PMGC) 2022, the culmination of the PUBG Mobile Esports 2022 circuit, kicked off on 6th January. Sixteen of the best PUBG Mobile teams from across the world are competing against each other for the ultimate title and the lion’s share in the prize pool of $1.5 Million USD. Unfortunately, no Indian team could compete in the tournament due to the unavailability of the game in the country. Notably, Influence Chemin, one of the sixteen finalists, is bearing the Indian flag in this global championship. Indian fans took note of this gesture by the all-Brazilian roster and have been praising the team on social media, pouring in love and support for Influence Chemin.
Two Indian esports organizations compete at PMGC 2022
The government of India suspended the Indian variant of PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), on 28th July 2022. Amid the unavailability of the game, no official tournaments are being hosted in the country. However, the criterion for the last slot in the PMGC 2022 was undefined for a long time. As a result, fans speculated that the slot would be allocated to an Indian team. Krafton did not explicitly mention anything, and an Indian team participating was mere speculation. In late November, Krafton revised the tournament format of PMGC 2022 and allocated the last remaining slot to one more qualifying team from the league stage. Following this, fans were disappointed to find out that no Indian teams would be able to participate in PMGC 2022.
Although no Indian teams could participate in PMGC 2022, two Indian esports organizations are a part of the championship – GodLike Stalwart and Influence Chemin. Stalwart GodLike is a collaboration between two Indian organizations, i.e., Stalwart Esports and GodLike Esports. It features a four-player Mongolian roster for PMGC 2022. On the other hand, Influence Chemin is a collaboration between the Brazilian organization Influence Rage and the Indian organization Chemin Esports. For PMGC 2022, Influence Chemin features a five-player Brazilian roster.
To show off its roots, Influence Chemin has featured the Indian flag on the right arm sleeve of its PMGC 2022 jersey and the Brazilian flag on the left arm sleeve. Meanwhile, Stalwart Esports only features the flag of Mongolia on its jersey’s right arm sleeve.
Professional Indian BGMI player and content creator Tanmay “Sc0utOP” Singh also reacted to Influence Chemin bearing India’s flag. “That’s insane! I did not see it. Really? Influence Chemin’s jersey features India’s flag?! That is insane!” he said.
This move by Influence Chemin to include the Indian flag has won the heart of fans in the country.
The league stage of PMGC 2022 has already concluded. The top 14 teams advanced to the event's grand finals, where they will face two directly invited teams. The PMGC 2022 Grand Finals will conclude on 8th January. The last stage of the tournament is being played in a LAN setting at the Jakarta International Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia.
