Vlad Marinescu, president of the International Esports Federation (IESF), praised the Indian government’s recognition of esports as an official sport. He said it would create opportunities for Indian gamers to receive respect and recognition on a global scale.

According to Marinescu, this action will provide esports the same respect and recognition as other sports while giving Indian athletes incentives and international exposure. The company itself is working to have esports accepted as a legitimate sport on a global scale.

The praise came a few days after the Indian government officially recognized esports as a part of a multi-sports event under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was named the nodal ministry for “Matters relating to online gaming.”

IESF also recently partnered with Bollywood director Madhu Mantena and banker and entrepreneur Ravneet Gill-owned Big Bang Media Ventures to organize the inaugural Asia Open Esports Championship (Asia Open), which will begin in January.

Marinescu stated that the initial goal would be to generate positive value and effect change, although the two did not mention the amount of investment made in the competition.

According to a statement from Mint, Marinescu said, “India is the world’s second-largest esports market. It is central to the future of esports. The target of the first season may not be profitability but to get in more interest from those who are participating as well as sponsors. The FIFA World Cup, for instance, wasn’t making any profit for the first 10 editions.”

Owner of Big Bang Media Ventures Ravneet Gill said, “Gen-Z is a very experiential generation, and gaming is a multi-cultural megatrend. The idea of doing the Asia Open was to bring some of these things to light and bring together gaming communities. We are delighted with the recent government announcement.”