SriLankan Airlines enters ESports arena

Monday, 23 December 2019 01:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SriLankan Airlines, a well-known name in a variety of sports both nationally and internationally, entered the arena of Electronic Sports or ESports recently at the Mercantile ESports Championship, organised by Gamer.LK, performing creditably in the face of some stiff competition.

ESports is a new genre of sport that has gained a foothold in the modern sports arena in recent years, being a form of competitive sport carried out through video games on various platforms, including personal computers, gaming consoles and mobile phones. Spearheaded by the efforts of the Sri Lanka ESports Association, the Government of Sri Lanka recently gazetted official recognition of ESports as a sport in Sri Lanka. Gamer.LK has been the foremost organisation for ESports in the country since its inception in 2007 and has continued to promote ESports through various events and activities.

More than 800 competitors from over 115 companies participated in this year’s Mercantile ESports Championship. The tournament has been held annually for several years, with this year’s event having fallen on 9 and 10 November at Stein Studios in Ratmalana. The event was free for the public with a plethora of promotions, activities and games to keep the crowd engaged.

SriLankan Airlines participated in the game DOTA 2 with the team name Aviators Gaming, competing against 19 other companies and advancing up to the quarter-finals where it was defeated by eventual champions Pattern Digital. SriLankan was represented by Nuwan Wijeyesekera (Inflight Service Delivery), Michael Liyanage (Inflight Service Delivery), Chirath De Mel (Engineering), Aravinda Palliyaguruge (Information Technology) and Pathum Wijayasooriya (Corporate Quality).

E-sports have become a massively competitive sport in the modern day where prize pools exceed even certain mainstream sports. A good example of this is the $30 million prize pool amassed for the International Championship of the DOTA 2 tournament. This is a rapid rise in popularity from just a decade ago when competitions were mainly held between amateurs. Organised competitions emerged around the year 2010 which showcased professional players battling for supremacy against each other in teams or individually.