National Esports team competes with world’s best contenders at 18th Asian Games

• Sponsored by Dialog Gaming

 This year’s Asian Games saw history being made as Electronic Sports (Esports) were included as a demonstration sport at the event for the first time in history. Electronic Sports, the world’s fastest growing sport today, is the competitive play of video games. Much like traditional sports, Electronic Sports are structured around athletes, either solo or coming together to form teams competing in tournaments, leagues and championships. 

The Sri Lanka Esports Association with the support of strategic partner Gamer.LK, along with the Sports Ministry and the National Olympic Committee sent a contingent of Sri Lanka’s best Esports athletes across 5 titles to compete at the games. The titles included in this year’s games were League of Legends, Hearthstone, Pro Evolution Soccer, Starcraft 2 and Clash Royale. 

Sri Lanka’s Esports athletes taking part in the respective eSports titles were as follows: League Of Legends: Akthar Hafeez, Shalitha Chandrarathna, Ashik Saleeth, Achintha Konara, Hilal Jismy, Abith Latiff; Hearthstone: Ramesh Uthayakumar; Pro Evolution Soccer (PES): Mufeed Miskin, Shihab Rizan; Starcraft 2: Amruth Alfred; and Clash Royale: Joel Joung.

Sri Lanka faced a South Asian regional qualifier, where the top country from each game would qualify to take part in the main event in Jakarta, Indonesia in August. PES, Hearthstone and Starcraft 2 qualifiers were played online, while League of Legends and Clash Royale were played in Vietnam and Hong Kong respectively. 

Out of the 5 titles, Amruth Alfred playing Starcraft 2 beat the rest of South Asia to qualify for the main event in Indonesia, where he would go on to face the best Starcraft 2 players in the world. Sri Lanka didn’t qualify for the other 4 titles, although a significant amount of international experience was gained from taking part in the qualifiers.

Amruth Alfred

Coming from Peradeniya, Kandy, Amruth Alfred is an alumnus of Gateway College Kandy, and is currently following an MPhil in Astrophysics at the University of Hong Kong where he completed his BSc in Physics and Astronomy with Second Upper Honours. “I really like 1 v 1 games, because it just depends on you. Your skill determines if you win or lose.”

Amruth, with previous competitive experience in Call of Duty, Dota 2 and Overwatch, picked up Starcraft 2 and steadily progressed with the game by watching pro twitch streams. Amruth climbed to the top of the Sri Lankan Starcraft 2 leader board within 2 months of picking up the game. Winning 2 weekend tournaments, he soon caught the attention of Gamer.LK which led to his selection as national representative for Starcraft 2. Amruth came out in first place in South Asia with a clean sweep of 2-0 beating the best from both Pakistan and Maldives. Amruth would go on to not only represent Sri Lanka, but South Asia as the regional winner.  The main event consisted of the best Starcraft 2 players in the world, including South Korea’s “Maru” who was enjoying #1 ranking worldwide. Amruth faced off against Taiwan’s “Nice”, losing to him 3-0 but gaining invaluable experience and drive for competition. “Nice” went on to win Silver, behind Korea’s “Maru” who won gold - an experience of a lifetime for Amruth and just the beginning to a whole new Esports journey.

“Never expected that I’d represent Sri Lanka as its first official Esports athlete and represent the South Asian region as well. It was just great to see Esports being recognised by the Olympic Council of Asia. Didn’t think we’d come this far, this fast. Was an absolute honour and privilege to be surrounded by gold medal athletes! I even managed to meet the God of Starcraft 2, Maru!”

As for future plans and being Sri Lanka’s first Esports athlete, Amruth plans to keep playing Starcraft 2 as preparation for the next Asian Games and play more competitive DotA 2 and Overwatch. He also intends on trying out League of Legends as the title was present at the Asian Games.

Powering cyber athletes

The national Esports team for the 18th Asian Games was sponsored by Dialog Gaming. Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s first connectivity provider to launch a mobile gaming platform, empowers the local pro-gaming community by powering cyber athletes who represented Sri Lanka in the Asian Games 2018. Recognising the potential and growth for cyber athletes in the country, Dialog continues to spearhead Esports and supports the community to challenge global gamers on international platforms.

Commenting on Dialog’s vision to power Esports in Sri Lanka Supun Jayasinghe (Product Manager – Gaming Services), Dialog Axiata PLC said: “Dialog Gaming’s vision is to create the No.1 gaming experience and propel the future of Esports in the country. As the main sponsor of the teams, we hope to provide opportunity for talent within the country.” 

He added, “Dialog Gaming currently connects Sri Lankans to the largest mobile gaming platform, and we are certain the future of Esports will be a cyberathlete receiving an equivalent recognition to that of an athlete.”

Esports has been carefully nurtured and groomed over the past decade by Gamer.LK who has led the initiative to promote Esports across the island by organising events such as the Sri Lanka Cyber Games in Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Matara and Jaffna. 

Sri Lanka has been a member of the International Esports Federation (IESF) who recently announced that they are in discussion with the International Olympic Committee regarding the introduction of Esports as a title at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The IESF says its aim is to “work consistently to promote Esport as a true sport beyond language, race and cultural barriers.” 

For updates on the national Esports visit http:/gamer.lk.