Bootcamps, redemption and teamwork: India hunts first esports medal in Pokémon UNITE at Asian Games 2026

From left to right: Reuben, Rex, Badshah, Disapple, Vulcan and Deepkumar in Japan ahead of the Pokémon UNITE title at the Asian Games 2026. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

In 2023, Revenant Esports found itself at the bottom of the Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League – India. With its back against the wall, the team went for an unlikely gamble: bringing in a 20-year-old substitute.

The outcome: Revenant ended up being the champion.

“Personally, I was in my struggling phase; I was playing in small teams, small random organisations and then out of nowhere, Revenant said, ‘We’ll register you as a substitute,’” he tells Sportstar. “I came in, and we came first, so it was a pretty amazing experience altogether. I think from that time, my proper esports journey began.”

That youngster, Adnan Mohammed Badshah, is now India’s captain in Pokémon UNITE at the Asian Games 2026.

“If you had asked me the same question three years ago, I did not even think in my dreams that one day I would go to the Asian Games and wear the Team India jersey. It does seem very dreamy,” he adds.

Early steps and preparation for Aichi-Nagoya 2026

Pokémon UNITE is a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) in which the winner is determined primarily by the points scored over 10-minute matches. It is one of the six esports titles added to the 2026 Asian Games, and India’s team is made up of Revenant’s roster (named Revenant XSpark).

The team’s first step towards the Asian Games was the National Esports Championships (NESC) 2026, which it won to seal a spot in the Asia International Tournament 2026, where it finished as runner-up.

“We have an Australian coach (Zeren Wang). Everyone is quite excited and hyped up. We are definitely trying for gold, and we will do our best no matter what,” Badshah adds. “We have gone outside of India to play quite a lot of times, but never as officially as an Indian athlete. So, let’s see how the experience goes.”

India squad for Pokémon UNITE at Asian Games 2026

Adnan Mohammed Badshah (”Badshah”) – Captain

Reuben Godfrey Fernandes (”Reuben”)

Sai Krishna Nalluri (”Vulcan”)

Dipjyoti Laxman Nath (”Disapple”)

Rudra Narayan Nayak (”Rex”)

Deepkumar Vipulbhai Patel (”Deepkumar”) – Substitute

Zeren Wang – Coach

“This group has played together at the highest level, won in India and shown against national teams from across Asia that we can compete with the best,” says Wang. “We know the level of competition we will face in Japan, and our focus now is on preparing as well as possible. Our objective is to compete for a medal for India.”

India’s preparations for the Asian Games began months before the tournament, with a bootcamp in Navi Mumbai.

“They were based in Kharghar at our gaming facility, and I think they were there for like a couple of months, and their preparation was the same as other teams,” Rohit Jagasia, CEO of Revenant XSpark, says.

— Revenant Esports (@RevenantGGWP) September 23, 2026

The team would watch match videos of other teams in the morning, then start playing, with 30-minute breaks in between.

“There was obviously more grinding at the boot camp. We usually try to play between six and eight hours, sometimes maybe 10 hours,” Sai Krishna Nalluri, aka Vulcan, adds.

But in a MOBA, the hours of practice are just one part of the equation.

“It’s all about ranked matches, like there are very limited scrims in general. Everyone has their own capacity, and because the game is designed in such a way that no matter how much you play, it will only be 10 minutes long,” Vulcan adds.

The other challenge is cohesion. Multiplayer games demand trust, and with eyes fixed on smartphone screens and fingers constantly moving, there is no non-verbal communication.

“We observed that when all the players came together, it made a lot of difference — they were going out together, going to the gym together, eating together, and we got the feeling that these guys started trusting each other’s decisions in-game,” Jagasia reveals.

The players come with serious domestic pedigree too: Badshah won the Pokémon UNITE Championship Series India four consecutive times (2022-2025), with Rex as his teammate on three occasions. Vulcan won the Pokémon UNITE Winter Tournament India and the 2024 Asia Champions League (India), while Reuben and Disapple are National Champions.

An uphill battle

The Games in Aichi-Nagoya, however, also pose a fresh challenge. India is grouped with Japan and South Korea in the group stages of the tournament, and is still waiting for its first medal in esports at the Asiad.

“Honestly, a lot of people still don’t know at all about Pokémon UNITE. They usually know Pokémon Go and ask if it’s the same as the (virtual) ball-throwing game in which you catch pocket monsters. It’s completely different, and the Asian Games is quite big for Pokémon UNITE. So, we will do our best to make a big name out of it,” Badshah says.

Pokémon UNITE will run from September 25 to 27, with 10 countries divided into one group of four and two groups of three teams. The top three from Group A and top two from Group B and C will qualify for the knockouts, while the third-placed teams of Group B and C will compete for the remaining knockout spot in a playoff.

🕹️ India is fielding a 15-member squad across four titles: League of Legends, Pokémon UNITE, eFootball and Puyo Puyo Champions.

It will not participate in PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, Gran Turismo 7, Naraka: Bladepoint, Identity V or Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.#AsianGames… pic.twitter.com/h00lHwklxn

— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) September 21, 2026

Japan will be India’s biggest challenge in the group stage, having beaten India twice at the Pokémon UNITE Asia International Tournament earlier this year.

Some members of the India squad also have a history of playing in Japan. Vulcan and Reuben were part of the Revenant XSpark team that played in Shinjuku at the Asia Champions League last year, only to suffer a first-round exit.

“I didn’t expect that it would be that cold. It is like 5°C, and a lot of people fell sick. It was very hard to play,” Vulcan says. He returns to Japan with redemption and medal hopes in mind, this time wearing an Indian jersey.

“I think Japan is currently the strongest, but they can be beaten,” he says.

Jagasia adds, “Keeping the current meta in mind and the fact that, you know, we will secure the last hit and everything, I think a top three is doable, but with that being said, Pokémon is such a title where I can’t really make an (objective) judgment. I also don’t want to jinx it.”

Badshah has been here before, with odds stacked against his side. But the gamble three years ago has since become India’s captain, and he has his eyes set on earning the country its first esports medal at the Asian Games.

“The League win in 2023, coming from fifth, fourth, third, second and ultimately winning everything, was completely like a movie scene altogether. That’s a moment I quite cherish, and I hope stuff like that does happen (more often),” he says.

Published on Sep 24, 2026

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