Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi’s bid to qualify for the 2026 EWC (EWC) came to a heartbreaking end as Dutch grandmaster Benjamin Bok defeated him 2-1 in the finals of ‘India Rising: Road to EWC’ held at Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on Saturday.Bok sealed India’s sole berth for the Esports World Cup Paris 2026, joining the ranks of 22 elite players. India has already qualified three players for the main event: Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi. Vidit reached the pinnacle after defeating M Pranesh and Raunak Sadhwani, while Bok eliminated Karthikeyan Murali and India No. in one of the standout performances of the tournament. 1 Arjun Aigahi.Ahead of the finals, Vidit talked about how much it means to qualify for the EWC after narrowly losing out last year.“The eSports World Cup is a very interesting event. Last year, I tried to participate in the Last Chance Qualifiers. I was leading the competition, but in the last three rounds, I messed up and fell behind,” he told TimesofIndia.com.“I flew specifically from the United States to Riyadh and it was very painful to know that after all this hard work, I still couldn’t qualify. Now I have another chance to qualify… I hope I can make it this time.”The Indian maestro also emphasized the importance of hosting the offline finals in Mumbai.“There are very few big tournaments held in India, so I’m excited about this opportunity. I hope to make it to the finals in India so my friends and family can come and watch me compete in person,” he said.Later this year, players will have the opportunity to enter the Esports World Cup again through the Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ), where the final five spots in the main event will be up for grabs.
