New Delhi, Feb 23 : From February 19 to March 3, the Russian city of Kazan hosts international competitions in phygital sports called 'Games of the Future'.

Phygital sports combine classical sports, e-sports and technologies, in which participants compete both virtually and in the real world. The Games of the Future were preceded by a series of other events, the Phygital Games, during which players competed in various disciplines, with the winners qualifying for the ongoing event.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Serbia participated in the opening ceremony of this year's tournament in Kazan on February 21.

The tournament's prize pool is $10 million. The inaugural event brought together over 2,000 athletes from 107 countries, including USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, China, African, South American and Arab countries.

The competition will be held in phygital format, a combination of digital and physical spaces, including AR and VR. Competitors will make use of the latest achievements in cybersports, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, information technology and artificial intelligence. There are a total of 21 disciplines combining classical and digital sports, so the competitors will need to demonstrate not only their physical fitness, but also their skills in e-sports.

The tournament is divided into five challenges. The largest prize pool ($4.8 million) has been allocated to the Sports challenge, which will feature competitions in phygital football, phygital hockey, phygital basketball, phygital martial arts and others.

Following it is the Strategy challenge with $2.65 million in prize fund, which will include Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, as well as World of Tanks.

The Technology challenge includes robot battle, drone racing, sports programming, dance simulator, virtual reality rhythm simulator. And tactics challenge features Counter Strike 2, Warface and mobile Standoff 2.

The first tournaments started with Dota 2 with such teams as LGD Gaming, Invictus Gaming, Xtreme Gaming, Azure Ray from China as well as the South American Beastcoast, Thunder Awaken and BOOM Esports.

'The games of the future are free from politics, discrimination and double standards,' President Vladimir Putin said.

Putin also noted that the unique idea to combine classical and cybersports was born in Russia. He called the phygital tournament 'a gift to the global sports family.'

Russian Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin added that Russia is proud to host this 'unique pioneer competition.'

Phygital sports was officially recognized as a sport in Russia in January 2023. The competition combining digital and physical space will be held until March 3.

/IANS