Esports x Pakistan | Pakistan to acknowledge Esports as an Official Sport
A memorandum has already been signed.
Varun Gavankar 
Esports is been recognised as a real sport across more and more countries. China was the first one to do back in 2003 itself and ever since South Korea, Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, Ukraine and now Pakistan has followed the likes of it. In recent times, Esports is also announced to be a medal event at Asian Games in 2022.
Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Science and Technology of Pakistan has revealed on Twitter that soon Esports will be recognised as an official sport in the country.
پاکستان سپورٹس بورڈ اور پاکستان سائنس فاونڈیشن کے درمیان یادادشت طے پا گئ ہے جس کے بعد E-Sports کو باقاعدہ کھیل کا درجہ حاصل ہو گا، اگر آپ کو ویڈیو گیمز سے دلچسپی ہے تو تیار ہو جائیے اور نئے مواقع آپ کے منتظر ہیں۔
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 13, 2021
The Tweet translates: "A memorandum has been signed between Pakistan Sports Body and Pakistan Science Foundation after which Esports will get regular sports status. If you are interested in video games, get ready as new opportunities are waiting for you."
Only last month, Federal Minister for Science and Technology showed up on a show with TV host Waqar Zaka where he revealed that a national level Esports tournament is currently in works and is bound to happen in March with the help of private sponsorship. He confirmed that Pakistan is growing 20% annually in the gaming sector and said he will be fully supporting gaming talents within the country.
Gaming as a career option was close to inexistent in Pakistan until a decade ago in 2010 when the Tekken player Arslan Ash did put his country flag on the first place at EVO Championship series and Champion Series Japan. Since then, a few residents have turned up who have inspired local people including the DotA 2 talent, Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan, who initially shifted from Pakistan to the United States to pursue his DotA career and in fact, ended up winning the premier tournament The International 5 taking home $6.6 million with Evil Geniuses.
With Chaudhry's efforts, it looks likely that if a new SumaiL is born in the lands of Pakistan, he might not be needed to move away from his homeland to pursue a gaming career.
