India names nine coaches for Esports Nations Cup

NODWIN Gaming has finalized coaches for nine titles ahead of the Esports Nations Cup 2026 in Riyadh. Rosters must be submitted by May 10, and roster announcements will begin in mid-May. Organizers have not yet released dates or formats for open qualifiers in several solo titles and remaining team events.

Moin Ejaz (NO_Chanc3) will coach the DOTA 2 team; he won a bronze medal for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham. Rahul (Ayogi) has been named BGMI coach; his previous roles include Blind Esports and Team SouL, and his teams won BGMI Pro Series 2023, BGMI Masters Series Season 3, the Chennai Esports Global Championship 2025, and BGIS 2026. Abhishek Bajaj (GodspeedxD) is the VALORANT coach with past positions at Reckoning, Bleed, Grayfox and Velocity Esports. Pankaj Upadhyay (KAKA) will coach the League of Legends squad and has represented India at international events.

Filipino coach Steve Vitug (Dale) will lead MOBA Legends: 5v5! after guiding Omega Esports to a top-six finish at the 2021 World Championship and Falcon Esports to a similar result in 2023. Pratik Mehra (Aurum) will coach PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS; he won PUBG Mobile All Stars India 2019 with Fnatic and finished runner-up at the PUBG Mobile India Series 2020. Ashrit Goyal (notyAshritB) will coach Rainbow Six Siege and finished second at the South Asia Nationals 2022. Nirjhar Mitra (jocse) will handle Rocket League coaching after competing in the Asian Nations Cup qualifiers and the CEC 2022 regional finals. Indonesian coach Gradyano Valendy (Rinnqt) is assigned to Honor of Kings after coaching Rex Regum Qeon through qualification for the Esports World Cup 2024 and the Honor of Kings World Championship 2024.

NODWIN Gaming is India’s designated National Team Partner and will assemble squads, coordinate training and manage logistics for the ENC campaign. The Esports Nations Cup will run Nov. 2 through Nov. 29 in Riyadh and will feature national teams from more than 100 countries.