Gateway takes esports crown at school-level Esports Championship by Gamer.LK

Gateway College Colombo was crowned overall champions of the Inter-School Esports Championship 2018! Royal Institute came in as runners-up with Gateway College Kandy coming in third place

The Inter-School eSports Championship – powered by Dialog Gaming – returned for its third consecutive year on 22 and 23 September at Trace Expert City, Maradana. The tournament open to all school students s organised by Gamer.LK, the leader in esports and digital entertainment experiences in Sri Lanka. 

This year’s event saw over 100 schools from all across the country registering for the championship, making it one of the largest school sporting events bridging demographic barriers such as geography and language. The defending champions Gateway College Colombo retained the Championship in convincing fashion by securing medals across many Esports titles. Royal Institute came in as runners-up with Gateway College Kandy coming in at third place. 

The Championship kicked off in style with matches being broadcast on the giant screen at the venue with a livestream also being broadcast on Facebook and Twitch for viewers who were not at the venue. 

Students battled it out across 13 competitive gaming titles over the two days, which included the popular team titles – Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch and Special Force 2 as well as individual titles – FIFA 18, Project CARS, Tekken 7, Injustice 2, Clash Royale and Subway Surfers. For the first time in Sri Lanka, Fortnite was included as an individual title which drew a record number of registrations.

In addition, tryouts for Sri Lanka’s Fastest eRacer took place at the event. Complete with Red Bull racing seats, racing wheels, pedals, large-screen TVs and the tracks on Project CARS, this is a brand-new concept devised by Gamer.LK and aimed at promoting simulation racing in the country. The tryouts drew a lot of attention as young gamers tested their skill behind the wheel. 

This year, a special Under 12 segment was also introduced with the mobile gaming titles Subway Surfer being added into the midst.

The Inter-School Esports Championship was organised by Gamer.LK, who are also the organisers for successful annual events such as Play Expo (featuring Sri Lanka Cyber Games and Colombo Comic Expo). From 2016, Gamer.LK took the initiative to branch out Esports and digital entertainment into the three tiers of School, University and Mercantile.

The Inter-School Esports Championship was powered by Dialog Gaming, who over the years have provided vital support towards the development of Esports in the country. Dialog Gaming also promoted the competitive title Special Force 2 at the event. In addition, they will be kicking off the Dialog Gaming League later this year, for which the Special Force 2 champions at Inter-School Esports have already qualified. The overall winners of the League will get the chance to represent Sri Lanka at International tournaments. . 

MSI was the Technology Partner for the event. MSI officially launched their 8th generation high performance laptop series in April. The latest MSI laptops were on display at the MSI experience stall, with participants being able to test and feel the sheer power and capabilities available on MSI gaming laptops. 

Honda was the Motorbike Partner of the event. Honda started out a brand new season of the Rider Rush championship where they offer a free Honda NAVI to the winner in December.

HyperX made its debut into the Sri Lankan Esports scene as the Silver Partner for the event. HyperX is a high performing gaming brand, featuring best-in-class components that have delivered superior performance, quality and aesthetic design for more than a decade, HyperX products are the choice of top-rated gamers, tech enthusiasts and overclockers worldwide. HyperX gave away valuable gifts at the event. 

Trace Expert City was the Technology Hub Partner for the event. Trace aspires to transform Sri Lanka into an economically sound, knowledge based, techno-centric, sustainable business hub by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and professionalism by technologically reawakening our culture of excellence. 

The Inter-School Esports Championship was supported by the Official Radio Partner Kiss FM, National Partner ICTA, Strategic Partner FITIS, Digital Media Partner ReadMe, Audio-Visual and Lighting Partner Elektro Revo and the Photography and Videography Partner LetMeKnow.

For more information on all the events visit www.gamer.lk or follow Gamer.LK on Facebook via www.fb.com/gamerlk.

The successful completion of the Inter-School Esports Championship marked the final of the three major competitions held annually by Gamer.LK for universities, schools and companies. Up next in the calendar is Sri Lanka Cyber Games and Colombo Comic Expo which will be held within Play Expo – Sri Lanka’s only Digital Entertainment and Technology exhibition, happening on 7, 8 and 9 December at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC).