Women gamers break the glass ceiling as SL’s first National Women’s Dota 2 team assembles

Meet Sri Lanka’s first national women’s team for Dota 2 : FoXy, Stardust,  Nerd, Prince$$,  JollyGood! and Chansica 

Electronic Sports, the competitive play of video games has become the fastest growing sport over the last few years both worldwide and within Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Esports Association, founded in 2012, has been recognised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Sri Lanka. The Association has also provided the pathway for national Esports athletes to represent Sri Lanka at international events such as the 18th Asian Games, Esports World Championships and many more.

The Association has grown significantly since its inception and is now taking its first steps into female representation in the National Esports team by enlisting six female Dota 2 Esports athletes, creating the nation’s first National Women’s Team for Dota 2. 

The members of the team are Nadeeshani ‘FoXy’ Jayasinghe, Tikiri ‘Stardust’ Diasena, Zahra ‘Nerd’ Thajudeen, Nardhya ‘Prince$$’ Grero, Semini ‘JollyGood!’ Perera and Jessica ‘Chansica’ Devendra.

Tikiri ‘Stardust’ Diasena has been passionate about role-playing and strategy video games all her life, but moved into competitive form more recently in 2020. Nardhya ‘Prince$$’ Grero has been a DOTA 2 player for six years and compares the game to love - “It is both complex and beautiful. It can be difficult, but in the end it’s worth it.” Zahra ‘Nerd’ Thajudeen has played the game since 2014, and is driven by a strong competitive spirit that combines teamwork and passion. Semini ‘JollyGood!’ Perera joins the team with four years of experience within Dota 2’s intricate systems. She’s drawn to the game both by her competitive spirit and also a family of like-minded individuals she’s discovered through it. Jessica ‘Chansica’ Devendra brings six years of experience to the team. What started as a casual hobby, evolved into a regular grind to climb up the ranks in 2018. Nadeeshani ‘FoXy’ Jayasinghe is a seasoned Esports Athlete across multiple genres, consistently competing within the nation’s top tournaments and now taking her experience to the world.

The team will represent Sri Lanka at international tournaments for Dota 2, the first of which was the Global Esports Games 2021 organised by the Global Esports Federation. The team competed within Region 1 of the Regional Qualifiers going head-to-head with Mongolia in their first match. After hours of intense and strategic gameplay by the Sri Lankan girls, Mongolia emerged the winner. However, the team acquired a significant amount of exposure and experience that will be instrumental in honing their skills for the future.

Dota 2 is one of the world’s most popular competitive multiplayer online battle arena games that requires strong strategic thinking, teamwork and coordination. It is commendable that despite the steep learning curve demanded by the game, the National Women’s Team built a strong level of competency within just one month of assembly to hold their own at an international platform. 

The girls of the new National Women’s Team for Dota 2 have since continued their training in preparation for more international tournaments in the coming months. Sri Lanka Esports is backed by the strength and commitment of its main sponsor Dialog and geared with Asus Republic of Gamers as the Official Gaming Laptop partner alongside Gamer.LK as the strategic partner. 

As one of Sri Lanka’s largest telecom service providers, Dialog is known for their home broadband and wide range of data plans, which connects gamers all around the country. Dialog also has a gaming subsidiary called Dialog Gaming, which hosts gaming and Esports competitions. Recently, Dialog Gaming, in collaboration with local developers launched ‘MegaPlay’, an all-in-one e-Gaming mobile app, featuring a gamut of hyper-casual games, to the delight of gamers island-wide.

ASUS Republic of Gamers, with their line-up of high-end gaming laptops, which include the Zephyrus, Zephyrus Duo, Strix Scar and ROG Flow series, offers gamers a  complete line of innovative products known for performance and quality, such as their; laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, audio equipment, routers and peripherals. ROG also participates in and sponsors major local and international gaming events.

Along with the support of these partnerships, Sri Lanka Esports is poised to grow Sri Lanka’s presence in the rising wave of Esports globally.