Ankit Panth is an Indian Internet personality and YouTuber, who is known for his pro-gamer skills. He is considered one of India’s most popular Counter-Strike gaming professionals.

Wiki/Biography

Ankit Panth (aka Ankit V3nom Panth) was born on Wednesday, 26 July 1989 (age 33; as of 2022) in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. After Ankit was done with his schooling, his parents insisted he graduate with an Aeronautical Engineering degree and pursue MBA later but he wasn’t interested. He convinced his parents and graduated with a simpler degree before becoming a professional gamer.

A childhood picture of Ankit Panth

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 6′ 0″

Weight (approx.): 75 kg

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Body Measurements (approx.): Chest: 41 inches, Waist: 28 inches, Biceps: 14 inches

Family

Parents & Siblings

There is not much information available about his family and siblings.

Ankit Panth with his mother

Career

When Ankit was 15 years old, he went to a gaming cafe called Boomerang in Kandivali, Mumbai. He saw people passionately playing Counter-Strike 1.6, a video game, and got fascinated by them. After playing Counter-Strike for a while, he realised that he could represent India by playing it and decided to make gaming his profession. Later, he started playing Counter-Strike GO professionally and founded several gaming teams. He formed his first gaming team and named it Warriors Of Chaos (WOC) through which he started gaining money. In 2006, he formed a semi-professional team called Made in Mumbai (MiM). Ankit met Aakash ‘RiX’ More, a popular eGamer while playing in a cafe. Then, Ankit was offered an opportunity to play as a substitute for Aakash’s team, which was in the top three in India at the time.

Brutality- Founder

In 2008, Ankit and Aakash “RiX” More started a player-owned Team Brutality, a professional Indian Esports team. They won their first major Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament which was also Ankit’s first tournament win. Ankit is also known as the face of Brutality as he is the founder and director of operations. The team has won several (semi) professional tournaments while being equally popular for competing in solo titles like Tekken, Street Fighter, Need for Speed, Forza Motorsports, and the TrackMania series. Brutality has represented their team at the national and international levels, and won several tournaments including ESL Cup 2014 Season 4 (Online), Lenovo India Gaming Week 2015 in Mumbai (Lan), and Tranzeneca Lan Party Tournament 2016, Pune (Lan).

Ankit Panth (middle) with his co-players of Team Brutality

HyperX- Brand Ambassador

In 2022, the Gaming peripherals company HyperX signed Ankit Panth as their first Indian brand ambassador. On this, HyperX said,

We have been watching and admiring his gaming talent for quite a while and are thrilled to have Ankit finally join our ranks. With Ankit Panth onboard as our Indian brand ambassador, we’re confident that his amazing abilities and creative talents will echo with HyperX’s mission and expand the brand’s reach to more young gamers who share the same passions.”

Redbull Athlete

Ankit Panth represents Redbull as India’s first Red Bull athlete in gaming. So far, he is the only Indian gamer to be honoured as a Red Bull Athlete for esports.

Ankit Panth, India’s first Red Bull Gaming Athlete

Other Works

After winning the tournaments, Dell made sure Team Brutality stay in the limelight further likewise. They enabled Team Brutality to take their eSports capability to the next level using Dell’s powerful gaming systems. They were provided computer hardware such as Alienware, Dell Inspiron Gaming notebooks and Dell Gaming monitors to compete in further eSports events. He is recognized as #IntelsUltimateV3nom. According to Ankit, he got a break when he appeared in the eSports tournament titled ‘U Cypher with MTV’ which aired on MTV. Although, his team lost in the game Tekkenm, they made a comeback by winning Real Cricket 17, CSGO, and DOTA 2.

Ankit Panth on the sets of the eSports tournament U Cypher with MTV India (2018)

He started receiving brand endorsements and sponsorships, and then got signed as a Brand Ambassador by Alienware, and Intel India. Apart from playing Counter-Strike professionally, Ankit also plays GTA5, The Witcher 3, and FIFA (Video game series). Ankit joined a new team in August 2021 and became a part of M42 Esports roster.

Favourites

Weapons of choice: USP-S, AK-47, and M4A4

Chocolate: Ferrero Rocher

Facts/Trivia

He also goes by the name V3nombiceps.

Ankit is a fitness enthusiast.

Ankit is known for his fantastic DJing skills.

During an interview, Ankit shared that he has never smoked or consumed alcohol.

Ankit’s parents had to break their fixed deposits in order to afford the gaming equipment. His mother also had to sell her jewellery’; however, after his huge success, it all came back. During an interview, Ankit said,

From crying for days to get my hands on a personal computer to now having 4 high end systems at my disposal currently. I did not know much at that time nor could I see the future. I only knew how to work and I kept doing that.”

Initially, Ankit’s parents were against his decision to be a professional gamer. During an interview, he shared that his neighbours interfered in his life and urged his parents to make him stop.

In the OTT Gamer’s Den, Ankit revealed that when he was 15 years old, he asked for INR 20/- from his parents to go to a gaming cafe and ended up getting scolded. After that, he never asked for money but started saving up to go on weekends.

He used to get laughed at for being skinny and for his dressing sense. So, when he used to go to the gaming cafe, he was amused to see how nobody cared about his physical appearance and clothes there.

Ankit Panth during his initial gaming days

Ankit once said the gaming cafe’s owner told him that he would give him game time if Ankit manages to win the tournaments, in case, he fails, the owner was ready to pay for him.

In Ankit’s Instagram post, he imparted wisdom by telling about his struggle to reach where he is now. He further added that when his gaming was not doing well, he switched to fitness and later to music. But, when that was not helping, he switched to modelling. If everything would have had failed then his last resort was to go and get a job.

In 2018, he won the title of Captain Of The Year at the India Gaming Awards.

Ankit Panth receiving the Captain Of The Year Award at the India Gaming Awards 2018

From 2015 to 2018, after playing in a total of 17 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Tournaments (2015-18) held online and offline/ LAN, Ankit earned $2,697.58 (INR 2,22,005.44).

Ankit has been featured in many of India’s best news publishing companies including The Economic Times and The Times Of India.

Ankit Panth featured in The Economic Times