TWO sessions down and ATE has the upper hand over the competing team Havok that’s breaking into a sweat. Bullets are fired by the dozen and players are taken down like swatted flies. On the field and in the virtual realm, the pressure engulfing sportsmen and gamers from India and Pakistan is unmatched. While the pre-gaming camaraderie at the first Indo-Pak Counter Strike match, hosted at the World Cyber Games finals in Mumbai, almost had us fooled; once the gun shot, the teams were cut-throat.

“It’s monikered as a friendly match but many here have asked us to thrash them,” confesses ATE captain, Mikhail Mehra or Rshkhn. “Counter Strike isa team game and we play because we’re passionate about it. In this case, there is added pressure because of the expectations.”

While team ATE (Accuracy, Teamwork and Experience), won the WCG title for Counter-Strike and are on their way to Seattle in October for the world finals, the boys from Mumbai had to prove themselves yet again, against their Pakistani comrades, Havok.

Before the games began, the Indian team seemed relaxed while their Pakistani counterparts didn’t budge from the gaming consoles, dabbling in multiple practice sessions. “We’ve been training harder for this match. We play to win, but believe the best team wins,” says Arslan Nazir aka Shagger, who opened the first gaming zone in Pakistan, in Lahore. “Gaming has a similar craze there, but not many venues to support it,” adds Nazir, a businessman.

India wins the game’s map toss and opts for Nuke while Pakistan chooses Inferno. “We have to sharpen our skills in each of the four maps,” explains Ben Verghese aka R41D. “A lot rode on this ‘friendly’ match, however our concern was the lack of gaming knowledge in the country. When we play internationally, they only want us to win. If we don’t there’s so much flak,” Verghese adds.

While this is the first WCG India finals for Havok, the five-member team (including youngest player 15-year-old Yousef Masud) has played ATE at the ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup) in Paris last year. “Pakistan had a close win, 16-14. They’re a strong team and very focused,” says Nile or Nilesh Jaiswal of ATE.

But how friendly can a violent FPS (first-person shooter) game be? “We play against our friends in Pakistan so it’s the same here for us. It’s not real man-to-man combat,” says Nazir. “We’re here to encourage more gamers from Pakistan to participate,” says Havok captain and businessman Syed Zain Abbas Naqvi aka Dot.