KRAFTON India today announced the Rising Star Invitational, India’s first-ever BGMI invitational tournament built exclusively around players from the KRAFTON India Esports Rising Stars Programme. Running July 3 to 5, the three-day event will see 16 Rising Stars lead their own five-member squads in an INR 5 lakh prize pool competition broadcast live on the KRAFTON India Esports YouTube channel – a format designed to give India’s most promising competitive talent a national stage entirely their own.
Rising Star Invitational Tournament
The Rising Star Invitational is the competitive centrepiece of KRAFTON India’s Rising Stars Programme, which was expanded in 2026 with the announcement of its second cohort. The programme is KRAFTON India’s most structured investment in grassroots esports talent to date, designed to identify, develop and accelerate India’s next generation of professional BGMI players through dedicated coaching, competitive exposure and visibility on the national stage.
Speaking on the announcement, Karan Pathak, Associate Director, Esports, KRAFTON India, said: “The Rising Stars Programme was built to answer a single question: what does India’s next generation of professional BGMI talent look like? This invitational is where we find out. Putting Rising Stars in the captain’s seat against some of the country’s best professionals is the most meaningful competitive exposure we can give them – and it reflects our long-term commitment to building a pipeline from grassroots to the global stage.”
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Rising Stars invitational – Team Captains
Each of the 16 Rising Stars captains their own named squad, drawing from a roster that blends emerging talent with some of the biggest names in Indian BGMI. The 16 captains and their squads: Hector (Hector Warriors), Hydro (Hydro Hydrogen), Knight (Knight Nightmare), Levi (Levi’s Shoorveers), JatinOG (Jatin Hunters), Jasleen (Jasleen Titans), Kratos (Krazy Kratos), Justy (Justy’s Jesters), Wanted (Most Wanted), Evil (Evil Squad), Mernox (Mernox Reapers), SirZalai (Tahchapa Zalai), Shiraj (Shiraj Sena), NoobPari (Noobpari Clashers), SaumRaj (Solidarity SaumRaj), and Sam (Super Sam).
The squads also feature a constellation of India’s most accomplished professionals – Jonathan, RonY, BEASTT, Jelly, Omega, MORTY, Reaper, KALYUG, Kyros, Gravity and Fury – competing under the Rising Stars’ captaincy.
The result is a format that puts emerging talent in the leadership seat while giving them the experience of competing alongside – and against – the players they have been working to emulate. It is, by design, the most direct test of readiness these Rising Stars have faced on an official platform.
The Rising Star Invitational will be played across Erangel, Miramar and Rondo over three days of back-to-back matches. The squad that accumulates the most points across the tournament will be crowned the inaugural Rising Star Invitational champion and take home the INR 5 lakh prize pool. All matches will be broadcast live across all three days on the KRAFTON India Esports YouTube Channel.
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