India to host $300,000 event

Backed by RouteMobile co-founder Rajdip Gupta, the event, called COBX Gaming, is part of a plan to develop the country's esports scene and have an Indian team capable of competing against the world's best by 2018.

Two of the 16 teams in attendance at the event will be determined by a national league, which will start in April and have upwards of $15,000 on offer. The remaining 14 slots will be filled by international teams invited by the event's organisers.

Wolf attended the 2014 ESL One Cologne Major 

The dates and location for COBX Gaming have not yet been revealed. By having international teams and a prize fund of this magnitude, Mr Gupta hopes that it will "send a signal to the foreign competitors" of just "how serious" his commitment to the project is.

"If you see our talent in games such as CS GO and Dota 2, they are not bad, the major problem is that they don’t get that exposure," he told sportskeeda.com.

"Our goal is to make India a fixed destination on the international esports calendar.

"So young teams are exposed to experienced players, that is the only way we can have teams playing at majors and high level tournaments across the world."

The news comes just weeks after Indian mobile game publisher Nazara Games announced its plan to invest $20 million over the next five years to create a professional league in the country which will feature three games: CS:GO, League of Legends and Dota 2.

India had one representative at the 2014 ESL One Cologne Major following the withdrawal of the former LGB eSports team. The spot ended up going to Wolf, the winner of the domestic qualifier, with the team being eliminated in the group stage following defeats against Ninjas in Pyjamas and HellRaisers.