Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi’s quest to qualify for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 ended in a heartbreaker as Dutch Grandmaster Benjamin Bok edged him 2-1 in the finals of India Rising: Road to EWC at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai last Saturday.Bok sealed the only qualifying spot from India’s genuine path to the Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris, joining the top 22 players. India already has three players who are eligible for the big event: Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi. Vidit entered the conference contention after good wins over M Pranesh and Raunak Sadhwani, while Bok made the best of the tournament by eliminating Karthikeyan Murali and India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi.At the start of the finals, Vidit talked about how much EWC qualification he had after narrowly missing out last year.“Esports World Cup is a very interesting competition. Last year, I tried to play the Last Chance Qualifier. I was leading the competition, but in the last three rounds, I messed up and failed”. he told TimesofIndia.com.“I went to Riyadh mainly from the US, and it was very painful to know that after all this effort, I could not qualify. Now I have another chance to qualify… I hope that this time I can make it.”The Indian Grandmaster also highlighted the importance of hosting the LAN Finals in Mumbai.“There are few big games that are held in India, so I was very happy with this opportunity. I was hoping to get to India for the last time so that my friends and family can come and watch me play by myself,” he said.The players will also have a shot at the Esports World Cup through the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) later this year, where the final five spots in the main event will be up for grabs.