Indian Captain Akshaj Shenoy Leads League of Legends Team Against Asian Games Odds
The 24-year-old will lead India's squad in a tough group against South Korea and Chinese Taipei as the nation seeks its first esports medal.
Akshaj Shenoy will captain India's League of Legends team at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, facing a brutal group with South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
"I wanted to prove something," Akshaj said in an exclusive interview with India Today.
If India wins, it will be the country's first esports medal at the Asian Games.
The 24-year-old from Kochi grew up fighting his cousins for time on a shared PC, where he discovered League of Legends and played for ten years.
He built his skills while hopping between foreign servers in North America, Europe and Japan due to a lack of an Indian server, dealing with terrible ping and connections.
A chance encounter with another Indian player on the Japanese server led him to the small, scattered domestic community.
By 11th grade, Akshaj had identified the best player in every role and convinced them to form a super team, which gave him his first insights into leadership.
The current Asian Games team came together over many years, with three players staying from India's 2022 squad that finished fifth in Hangzhou.
Ahmed Shahid, Rahul Bisht and Sanindhya Malik joined later, and the team has won domestic tournaments and beaten Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern teams.
They have trained on Malaysian servers at night because the server is 2.5 hours ahead of Indian time, sleeping at 2 or 3 a.m.
"We're really good teammates because we're really good friends," Akshaj said.
The team is spread across India, with Akshaj in Kochi and the rest in the north, and they will not have time together in the same room before the tournament.
They lack the professional infrastructure that opponents like South Korea have built over 15 years.
"Previously, we were playing for ourselves, for our own rank," he said.
"Now there is something actually on the line. There is our integrity, and we have to uphold our country's image too. Representing the country just feels really good."
His parents and relatives once questioned his career, but their belief grew after he started representing India.
"They thought it was an actual career opportunity after I started representing India," Akshaj said.
"Even if I was earning from it, for them it was uncertain. But after representing India, they believed it was possible."
The week before the Asian Games, he trains nine to twelve hours daily, starting at 7 p.m. and playing through the night.
To break from the cycle, he tries to do yoga and sometimes plays single-player games.
"When you play competitively for so long, you start seeing it differently," he said.
"You may not even enjoy it because it's too competitive for you."
He also acknowledged the physical and mental cost of sitting at a screen all day.
Training on a Malaysian server with lag is not the same as playing on proper equipment, and the team will have to adjust when they land in Japan.
Akshaj flew to Japan on September 25.
Redington Cybersport reported in September that the 2026 Asian Games will feature 13 esports titles across 11 events, including League of Legends.