GEPL founder Rajan Navani targets Olympics future for e-cricket after IOC's interest in e-sports

Can the Olympics ever have esports in the mix? It’s not a fresh discussion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC)

. The idea moved an inch closer after the rapid rise of esports over the past decade and in 2025, the IOC tried to build a meaningful relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Esports World Cup. The Esports World Cup Foundation was later named a founding partner of the project.

That partnership, however, came to an end in October 2025. The IOC said it would pursue a new approach and a new partnership model for the Olympic Esports Games. Now, even though the process has been delayed, the objective remains clear. Sooner or later, esports could be part of the Olympics and perhaps it will have its own standalone Olympic event.

Rajan Navani sees a massive opportunity in that possibility and believes India can benefit from it. He highlighted how the sport is celebrated in the country and said his company is actively working to build Olympic-level athletes, keeping the possibility and future in mind.

It’s all at a nascent stage, though. Cricket itself managed to find a place in the Olympics after more than 100 years, with the sport finally returning at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. So, can e-cricket make the cut? Navani acknowledged the challenge, pointing out that the sport is still very much India-centric. For it to feature in the Olympics, at least a few other countries will need to not just play it, but also excel at it.

“So first and foremost, the Olympics announcing esports Olympics. And now in esports Olympics will obviously require the game to be played in other countries. This is still largely our subcontinent. While we have downloads everywhere, we need to build Olympic-level athletes in all of those countries, or at least in a significant number of countries. So we got a lot to do and that's why we partnered with Krafton, which runs India's largest game, BGMI,” Navani said in an exclusive interview with on the sidelines of Jetsynthesys' GEPL Season 3 finale.

“It's a huge global company to see how Real Cricket as a game can go into those. And GEPL will include international teams, et cetera, as we move forward, and that will be a way to be able to go into the Olympics. So it might take time, but you know there’s this saying that better late than never,” he added.

Chennai Falcons retained the GEPL title by beating Sara Tendulkar-owned Mumbai Grizzlies 2-1 in the Season 3 final. The Falcons, jointly owned by Gopal Srinivasan, Madhusudana R. and Arjun Santhanakrishnan, won the deciding match by two wickets after the teams split the first two contests.

Peyush Bansal-owned Delhi Sharks finished third, while Bengaluru Badgers, co-owned by Nikhil Kamath, Ankit Nagori and Prashanth Prakash, finished fourth.

Mumbai’s Jetha Ram was the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 488 runs and was named the Most Valuable Player after also taking 14 wickets. Chennai’s Nadeem won the Purple Cap with 19 wickets, while Falcons batter Deepak was named the Emerging Player of the Tournament.