Doctor’s gold medal spurs esports players in Sibu

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Councillor Jimmy De Rozario (front row, fourth left) presents the prize to team GTX representative.

AN electronic engineering PhD holder becoming Malaysia’s first Southeast Asian (SEA) Games esports champion is spurring esports players in Sibu to aim for the brass ring in the electronic sports arena.

Dr Yew Weng Kean is now the king of Hearthstone in Southeast Asia.

The 29-year-old bested a host of esports contestants to take the SEA Games gold in Hearthstone, an online digital card game, originally subtitled Heroes of Warcraft.

The 2019 SEA Games is the first to include esports as a medal event in a multi-sports competition, sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Organised esports competitions where players or athletes face off in a multi-player video games environment are now a global phenomenon.

Esports is gaining much international traction with its inclusion in the 2022 Asian Games. The IOC is considering adding it to the 2024 Olympics in France.

Proposed E Sport Association

Abdul Taib Rosli, chairman of Nangka E Sport Challenge 2019 in Sibu, noted there are many esports enthusiasts in the Division.

Abdul Taib Rosli

He said Sibu had a good team which competed in Kuching, Miri and Kuala Lumpur recently but pointed out that to go far, an association was needed to organise more competitions to spot and groom talents.

He added that based on feedback from participants of Nangka E Sport Challenge 2019, a Sibu Division E Sport Association was needed for esports fans to continue working together under a registered organisation.

“We have discussed and agreed to set up the association soon. This will enable us to systematically identify potential players and form a pool of talents to represent Sibu at the highest level.”

Challenge 2019 results

The recent Nangka E Sport Challenge 2019, aimed at bringing local esports enthusiasts and players together, consisted of two games – Mobile Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile.

The First Series was held in September and the second, last month.

In Series One, the Mobile Legends championship went to Kasi Tahu Esport with Myrhologic second and GTX and Adetelor Esport sharing third place.

Candy Comback won Series Two, followed by Unknow Squad in second place with Immortality and Swan Sport as joint thirds.

The champion of PUBG Series One was The Purge Syndicate with TZ Gaming Crew and Pyro Squad Gaming second and third.

In PUBG Series Two, Xpert A emerged the champion. Pyro G (Mukah) was second with O&G and Purge third and fourth.

Proper esports centre

While saying an esports centre would be good for the sport in Sibu, he reckoned it was still best to attract the players first.

“Of course, with a centre, it will be better to promote the sports among the younger generation here. But the way I see it, for a start, it’s better to increase participation base first.”

Esports fast gaining traction among youths in Sibu.

The PUBG Mobile is a persistent online game where an Internet connection is needed to play — via mobile network or Wi-Fi – but the lower the ping, the better. Mobile Legends, on the other hand, is a multi-player online battle arena.

Abdul Taib noted the youths in Sibu love to play PUBG Mobile.

Definition and potential

According to Wikipedia, esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports or eSports) is a form of competition, using video games.

Most commonly, esports takes the form of organised, multi-player video game competition, particularly among professional players.

Esports, on the rise exponentially worldwide over the past few years, had taken a step into mainstream sports recently with a debut in the Southeast Asian Games as a medal event in an IOC-recognised multi-sport competition.

Players from nine countries competed over six days in Mobile Legends, Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Starcraft II, Tekken 7 and Hearthstone.

Big names in the football world – Manchester City, Paris St Germain and Ajax – are among more than 20 European football clubs that have created esports teams for international tournaments in the football simulator game – Fifa 18.

The online report – The Startup – medium said 2016 worldwide revenues generated in the esports market amounted to US$492.7 million.

By 2020, the market is expected to generate over US$1.48 billion in revenue, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 32 per cent.

Sarawak Esports Association (Sesa) founder and president Afiq Fadhil Narawi had said there were now 1.8 million esports enthusiasts in Malaysia, 35 per cent of whom aged between 21 and 35.

Budget 2020 & Esports

Esports is considered the world’s fastest-growing sport and the first, together with football, that’s truly global.

The federal government has announced an allocation of RM20 million in Budget 2020 to develop the local esports industry.

Esports associations in the country welcomed the allocation, hoping the money would be used for the SEA Games athletes and developing esports regulations.

Abdul Taib said the allocation showed the government’s support for esports.

Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has pledged to transform Malaysia into an esports powerhouse, not only in Asean, but also Asia.

He is aiming to tap into the billion-dollar industry and expand its growth to aid the country’s youth development.

Way forward

With Denmark consistently being among the esports greatest in Europe, it’s no wonder many are contending that esports is deeply engrained in the nation’s DNA.

To understand Denmark’s dominance today, we must look to the infrastructure they have established with the routes set to encourage esports participation.

Denmark’s education system is arguably the largest contributor to the nation’s esports success, with the government dedicating budgets to bringing esports to their national curriculum.

For instance, Campus Vejle, a Danish esports college use esports as a motivator.

The college’s coaches stay in close communication with local schools, receiving feedback on students that attend their programmes (https://medium.com/@IGGalaxy/denmarks-esports-infrastructure-what-we-can-learn-b3f87301190).

To move in that direction, Abdul Taib opined esports is ideal an activity for schools as it inculcates creativity as a starting point.