Meet Bangladesh's first gaming champion: Rupal Zaman

His name echoes through the halls of the most recent Overwatch League records: Rupal 'Pascal' Zaman. A name synonymous with the 'Florida Mayhem,' the team he helped lead to victory, claiming the coveted championship title. 

But who is this young man, this gaming prodigy who captivated the audience with his skills and strategy? In this exclusive interview, we explore his journey from a casual gamer to becoming the first Bangladeshi 'Overwatch' champion, and discover what drives him to conquer the competitive scene.

Stepping into a career outside of the conventional route is the first challenge for anyone – especially one who wants to get into gaming professionally. The stigma about the lack of security of such a profession can lead one to feel like an outcast in society.

Being of Bangladeshi origin, hailing from Canada, Rupal had to face similar obstacles. His parents did not really like the idea of him making a career out of video games. However, his skills and recognition as a gamer, and his quick rise in the leaderboard, was enough to convince them to allow him to give video games a serious shot.

"Although I started really casually, I found a passion in 'Overwatch,'" Rupal expressed. "I didn't foresee this happening but it did. And I want to play 'Overwatch' competitively for as long as I can. Even if I cannot be a part of the game as a player, I intend to stay involved as a coach or in some other capacity. I just want to stay close to this arena for as long as possible," he added.

Despite the challenges he faced from his family, Rupal won the championship, and that too while playing Support. That's right fellow gamers, he was a designated support in 'Overwatch.' 

For the uninitiated, a game of 'Overwatch' is a 6v6 format, consisting of two tanks, two DPS [damage per second] and two supports. 

DPS is a role that is much cherished as participants in this role deal direct damage to opponents to score a kill; while the Supports almost always engage in keeping others alive and use their utilities to assist in a kill. 

With direct kills, the former usually sits in the spotlight, but the Supports remain the true unsung heroes. The Supports carry the team on their back by healing their own while also damaging the opponent, making the role a much more complex one than meets the eye.

"It's not like I was handed the role of a Support by anyone else," said Rupal. "I primarily like playing the role of Support and more importantly, I like playing the Support heroes. It is actually very fun because they have to function much differently and diversely as opposed to tanks and DPS," Rupal shared.

And so, by embracing his inner Support and playing heroes like Lucio, Mercy and Brigitte; sliding, swerving, healing and pushing enemies off the map, Rupal along with his team, went all the way up in the ladder, becoming the champions of 'Overwatch League 2023'.

Playing for big teams alongside other famous names takes a lot of skill and is a dream for every video game enthusiast. So when Rupal moved on to play for bigger teams with players who had previously played in 'Overwatch League', he had a lot to prove. And he did so very gracefully, culminating in the triumphant championship run.

However, the beginning of his professional journey into Esports is nothing too steller. It all began with a computer his brother bought him in 2015. He ventured into the world of competitive First Person Shooter [FPS] games through one of the most iconic titles of all time, 'Team Fortress 2' [TF2]. This game would really help him transition into 'Overwatch' down the line when his brother bought the game when it came out.

"I didn't own 'Overwatch' when it came out, my brother did," Rupal explained. "I was really just playing TF2 a lot back then and would occasionally play 'Overwatch' when my brother was out. And even then I was just playing the game casually. I think I started playing the game more seriously and competitively when the pandemic hit in 2020 because I had a lot of free time," he added.

Initially he participated in some open tournaments of 'Overwatch' and climbed up the ranking ladder quite quickly when he was noticed by a tier 3 team. They liked him very much and Rupal himself was finding the Esports arena to be something very enticing. His professional journey began pretty much from this point onward.

Being a professional gamer comes equipped with much criticism from everyone. Especially in Bangladesh where the system is much more rigid. But as Rupal puts it, if someone really wants to, they can make it in the industry. They just have to recognise their skills and just like in other sports, hone those skills as much as possible to shine.