by admin | Feb 24, 2023 | News
Sri Lanka’s champion Esports athletes were recognised and felicitated at the seventh Dialog – SLESA National Esports Awards Ceremony held recently at the BMICH Colombo, under the patronage of Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of Sports.
The Sri Lanka Esports Association was formed in 2010 by Gamer.LK and four other leading Esports clans with the aim of promoting and developing Esports in the country. Sri Lanka Esports played a crucial role in standardising Esports in the country, adhering to international standards and rules to prepare young Esports athletes to reach the international level.
The National Esports Awards ceremony which began in 2013, returned after a brief hiatus of three years due to the pandemic, to acknowledge and honour the Esports athletes who have continued to excel in their performance in the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Dialog Axiata, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider and prolific promoter of sports, has stepped forward as the proud sponsor of Sri Lanka Esports, empowering Sri Lanka’s youth to engage and grow in the field of Esports. Dialog recognises Esports as the sport of the future and has been empowering Esports in Sri Lanka for over a decade. Dialog aims to enable the training and development of vital skills for Esports athletes locally and help bring structured Esports to all citizens of Sri Lanka.
The best-performing Esports athletes and clans of 2019, 2020 and 2021 were recognised at the event while the Esports athletes and clans who excelled in 2022 were awarded on stage. Maximum Esports was crowned as the Best Esports Clan of the year 2022 with many of its members also walking away with individual performance awards.
In a first for Sri Lanka and the South Asian region, the ceremony awarded Sri Lanka Esports National Colors to 39 Esports athletes who have represented the country on the international stage. This prestigious award is meant to encourage the next generation of Esports athletes to compete and strive for the highest possible level of excellence.
“Athletes and competitive organisations form the core of any sport, and Sri Lanka Esports strives to recognise the best performers and biggest contributors to the Sri Lankan Esports scene. The DIALOG-SLESA National Esports Awards puts the athlete front and center and acknowledges the feats of skill they’ve displayed both at home and abroad” said Raveen Wijayatilake, President of Sri Lanka Esports.
“We are thrilled to congratulate all the winners this year. At Dialog, we are proud to be the sponsor of Sri Lanka Esports and we are excited to continue our support in empowering local Esports athletes and promoting Esports as the sport of the future”, said Harsha Samaranayake, Vice President, Brand and Media – Group Marketing of Dialog Axiata PLC.
Sri Lanka Esports looks forward to the future with excitement and determination to continue its efforts in making Esports the number one sport in Sri Lanka. With the support of Dialog and other partners, Sri Lanka Esports aims to provide an environment for Esports athletes to develop their skills and compete at the highest levels internationally.
Dialog Axiata is the proud sponsor of the Sri Lanka National Cricket, Volleyball, Netball and Esports teams. The Company also has a close association with the President’s Gold Cup Volleyball, National Junior and Senior Netball tourneys, Schools Rugby, Premier Football and Paralympic sports by powering the Army Para Games, National Para Games and the Sri Lankan contingent to the World Paralympic Games.
by admin | Feb 21, 2023 | ISEC22, News
Gamer.LK, Sri Lanka’s premier Games & Esports organisation has opened registrations for the sixth edition of its Inter-School Esports Championship (ISEC) ’22 powered by SLT-MOBITEL. This Championship brings the excitement and thrill of Esports to over 150 schools across Sri Lanka as the country’s largest school-level sporting event. The Championship will be held online and is open to students enrolled in public and private schools in Sri Lanka.
The Ministry of Sports has also recognized Esports as a key focus sport, recognizing that exposing young people to Esports in school is crucial to giving them a competitive edge as Sri Lanka strives to excel internationally in Esports.
Students will register and compete online in 19 popular games, continuing the 2021 decision to hold the event online. Esports athletes from any government or private school can represent their school in team and individual games including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Mobile, Dota 2, Free Fire, League of Legends, Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Arena of Valor, and Valorant (Assetto Corsa eRacing, Clash Royale, FIFA 21, Real Cricket and Rocket League). Promotional titles Fall Guys and Overwatch will also be showcased. The Championship will also include a Women’s League including Clash Royale and Mario Kart Tour to recognise Sri Lanka’s top female student Esports athletes.
The Championship series was launched by Gamer.LK in 2016 to promote the benefits of well-organized and monitored school-level Esports. Studies have revealed that Esports have a number of benefits, including improved hand-eye coordination, team communication, problem-solving and critical thinking. The mission of Gamer.LK is to assist and promote students with an interest for Esports which is geared to be the sport of the future.
“With Esports being embraced by global sporting events like the Asian Games, we’re making best efforts to make sure Sri Lankan students are not left behind by the rest of the world. We have been organising the Inter-School Esports Championship since 2016 and have seen tremendous growth in students participating, and also parents and teachers understanding the importance of supporting the integration of Esports into the school system.” says Raveen Wijayatilake, CEO of Gamer.LK & InGame Esports, and President, Sri Lanka Esports Association.
“We are pleased to be able to partner with a tournament created for this growing Esports segment. We believe it will provide an incredible tournament experience for the students, inspiring and driving them to the next level. We know our robust network will play a key role in facilitating the future of the Esports industry and we look forward to playing our part in supporting their passion for Esports and helping them reach their full potential,” stated Prabhath Dahanayke, Group Chief Marketing Officer, SLT-MOBITEL
This year’s Championship is powered by SLT-MOBITEL, the National ICT Solutions Provider who comes onboard as the title partner. SLT-MOBITEL has been at the forefront of empowering digital entertainment and Esports in Sri Lanka with product offerings catering to gamers in the country.
Matches begin in March 2023 with updates and more information on the Championship can be found at https://school.gamer.lk/.
by admin | Feb 21, 2023 | Esports News Sinhala, News
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ප්රමුඛතම Games and Esports ආයතනය වන Gamer.LK විසින් සංවිධානය කරනු ලබන SLT-MOBITEL විසින් බලගැන්වූ අන්තර් පාසල් Esports ශුරතාවලියේ (Inter-School Esports Championship) ’22 හයවන අදියර සඳහා ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම අරම්භකර ඇත. දිවයිනේ විශාලතම පාසල් මට්ටමේ Esports ශූරතාවය ලෙස, මෙම ශූරතාවලිය ශ්රී ලංකාව පුරා පාසල් 150 කට අධික සංඛ්යාවකට Esports සදහා ඇති උද්යෝගකර හැගීමක් හඳුන්වා දෙයි. මෙම ශූරතාවලිය මාර්ගගත ක්රමයට පැවැත්වෙන අතර ශ්රී ලංකාවේ රජයේ සහ පෞද්ගලික පාසල්වල සිටින සිසුන් සඳහා විවෘත වේ.
Esports සැලකිය යුතු අවධානයක් යොමු කල යුතු ක්රීඩාවක් ලෙස ක්රීඩා අමාත්යාංශය විසින් පිළිගෙන ඇති අතර ශ්රී ලංකාව Esports ක්ෂේත්රය ගෝලීය වශයෙන් විශිෂ්ටත්වයට පත්කිරීම අරමුණු කර ගෙන තරඟකාරී වාසියක් ලබා දීම සඳහා පාසල් තුළ තරුණ තරුණියන්ට Esports සඳහා නිරාවරණයක් ලබා දීම අත්යවශ්ය බව එම අමාත්යාංශය පිළිගන්නා ලදී.
Gamer.LK විසින් 2016 දී මෙම ශූරතාවලි මාලාව ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ Esports පාසල් මට්ටමින් නියාමනයට සහ අධීක්ෂණය වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටීම සඳහායි. පුද්ගලයකුගේ ඇස් සහ අත් අතර වූ සමායෝජන හැකියාව (hand-eye coordination) වැඩි දියුණුවීම, ප්රතික්රියා වේගය (reflexes and reactions), කණ්ඩායමක් තුල සන්නිවේදනය කිරීමේ හැකියාව ඉහල යාම, තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවලදී නිවැරදි තීරණ ගැනීමට ඇති හැකියාව සහ විවේචනාත්මක චින්තනය වැඩි දියුණුවීම ඇතුළු Esports හි ප්රතිලාභ ගණනාවක් ඇති බව අධ්යයනවලින් සොයාගෙන ඇත. Gamer.LK හි පරමාර්ථය වන්නේ අනාගතයේ ප්රමුඛතම ක්රීඩාව බවට පත්වනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කරන Esports පිලිබඳ උනන්දුවක් දක්වන සිසුන්හට දිරිගැන්වීම සහ සහය දීමයි.
එම තරගාවලිය මර්ගගත ක්රමය ඔස්සේ පැවැත්වීමට 2021 දී ගත් තීරණයට ඒ ආකාරයටම ඉදිරියටම රැගෙන යන අතර සිසුන්හට අන්තර්ජාලය හරහා ජනප්රිය Esports titles 19 ක් සඳහා ලියාපදිංචි වී තරඟ කිරීමට හැකියාව ලැබෙනු ඇත. Esport සඳහා සහභාගී වන රජයේ සහ පෞද්ගලික පාසල් සිසුන්ට කණ්ඩායම් සහ තනි ඉසව් වලදී තම පාසල නියෝජනය කළ හැක. එසේ නියෝජනය කල හැකි Esports titles වන්නේ; Assetto Corsa eRacing, Arena of Valor, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Mobile, Clash Royale, Dota 2, FIFA 21, Free Fire, League of Legends, Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Real Cricket, Rocket League and Valorant. එමන්ම Fall Guys සහ Overwatch වැනි ප්රවර්ධක තරඟාවලිද ප්රදර්ශනයට කටයුතු සලස්වා ඇත. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ විශිෂ්ටතම ශිෂ්ය Esports ක්රීඩිකාවන් හඳුනා ගැනීම සඳහා Clash Royal සහ Mario Kart Tour ඇතුලත් කාන්තා ලීගයක් ද ශූරතාවලියට අන්තර්ගතකර ඇත.
Gamer.LK හා InGame Esports හි ප්රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී සහ Sri Lanka Esports හි සභාපති රවීන් විජයතිලක මෙසේ පවසයි, “අපි උපරිමයෙන් උත්සහ කරන්නේ ජාත්යන්තර මට්ටමෙන් ශීග්රයෙන් වර්ධනය වන මෙම ක්ෂේත්රය තුළ ශ්රී ලාංකික සිසුන් පසුබෑමකට ලක්නොවීම සහතික කිරීමටයි. මෙවර ආසියානු ක්රීඩා උළෙල දී Esports පදක්කම් ක්රීඩාවක් ලෙස එකතු කර ඇති අතර ශ්රී ලාංකාවේ ජාතික Esports කණ්ඩායම ඒ සඳහාතරඟ වැදීමට නියමිතයි. 2016 වසරේ සිට, අපි අන්තර් පාසල් Esports ශූරතාවලියේ පවත්වන අතර ශිෂ්ය සහභාගීත්වයේ සැලකිය යුතු වර්ධනයක් නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇත. මීට අමතරව, බොහෝ දෙමාපියන් සහ ගුරුවරුන් පාසල් පද්ධතියට Esports ඒකාබද්ධ කිරීම අනුමත කිරීමේ වැදගත්කම හඳුනාගෙන ඇත.”
ප්රභාත් දහනායක, සමූහ ප්රධාන අලෙවි නිලධාරි SLT-MOBITEL මෙසේ අදහස් එකතු කරන ලදි, “පුළුල් වන Esports ක්ෂෙත්රය සඳහා නිර්මාණය කර ඇති තරඟාවලියක් සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමට ලැබීම ගැන අපි සතුටු වෙනවා. එය සිසුන්ට විශිෂ්ට තරඟාවලි අත්දැකීමක් ලබා දෙනු ඇතැයි අපි සිතනවා. අපගේ ශක්තිමත් ජාලය Esports ක්ෂේත්රයේ අනාගතයට පහසුකම් සැලසීමට උපකාරී වන බව අපි දැනුවත්. ඒවගේම Esports සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ උද්යෝගයට සහය වීමට සහ ඔවුන්ගේ උපරිම හැකියාවන් සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීමට ඔවුන්ට සහාය වීමට අපි උනන්දුවී කටයුතු කරනවා.”
මෙවර ශූරතාවලිය සඳහා අනුග්රහය දක්වනු ලබන්නේ ජාතික තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ විසඳුම් සපයන්නා වන SLT-MOBITEL විසිනි. SLT-MOBITEL ශ්රී ලංකාව තුළ ඩිජිටල් විනෝදාස්වාදය සහ Esports සවිබල ගැන්වීම සඳහා පෙරමුණ ගෙන සිටින අතර, රට තුළ Esports ක්රීඩකයින් සඳහා පහසුකම් සපයන නිෂ්පාදන සපයනු ලබයි.
තරඟ 2023 මාර්තු මසයෙදී ආරම්භවන අතර වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු ලබාගැනීම සදහා පිවිසෙන්න https://school.gamer.lk/.
by admin | Feb 7, 2023 | News, SLESA
The Sri Lanka Esports Association (SLESA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Auditorium on the 5th of February 2023. The AGM was attended by members of SLESA who came together to discuss the progress of Esports in Sri Lanka and to also vote for a new Board to lead SLESA for the years 2023-24.
Nominations for the Board were accepted by the members of SLESA for 8 positions in total for which voting was carried out and saw Raveen Wijayatilake unanimously being re-elected as the President of SLESA. Alongside him, Malinda Jayasekera was re-elected as the Vice President while Ramesh Liyanage and Vikum Jayasekera were unanimously re-elected as the Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Chathra Jayasekera was unanimously elected as the Assistant Secretary while Abith Latiff was unanimously elected as the Media Secretary and Navod Bopitiya was unanimously elected as the Assistant Media Secretary. Safwan Mansoor was unanimously elected as the Chairperson, Clan Committee. Dinuka Ratnayake continues on as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee – a non-elected position.
Despite economic and various challenges, Esports has seen a massive spike in interest in Sri Lanka over the recent past. Recognised in 2019 as the 70th official sport in Sri Lanka by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Esports continues to grow at a rapid pace and is widely regarded as the country’s ‘fastest-growing sport’
SLESA is the officially recognised body for the governance of Esports in Sri Lanka by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. SLESA provides the framework to continue driving Esports in the country and works together with its members and stakeholders to continue establishing a strong structure for Esports in Sri Lanka, ensuring that the industry is managed in a responsible and sustainable manner.
At the AGM, the members of SLESA discussed various topics, including the growth and development of Esports in Sri Lanka, the future plans for the industry, and the ongoing efforts to provide a safe and fair environment for players. The members also discussed the importance of taking the sport from hobby status to a model that can sustain professional athletes with salaries and funding.
SLESA is committed to supporting the development of Esports in the country and working together with its members to ensure that the industry continues to grow and thrive. With a strong framework in place, the future of Esports in Sri Lanka looks bright, and SLESA is well-positioned to lead the way.
by admin | Jan 31, 2023 | Esports news, SLESA
Sri Lanka’s national Esports team for PUBG MOBILE qualified for the Grand Finals of the 14th World Esports Championships which were held recently. Sri Lanka’s National Team travelled to Bali, Indonesia for the championship. The tournament included some of the world’s best Esports athletes. Over 120 nations competed for a place in the Finals. The event included titles such as PUBG MOBILE, Dota 2, CS:GO, MLBB, Tekken 7, and eFootball 2023.
Mohammed Shihab Rizan represented Sri Lanka in eFootball 2023, and the four-member team for PUBG MOBILE consisted of Haseen ‘Nrcxhaz3n’ Suhaib, Thamara ‘Susthy’ Surendra, Pasan ‘Doom’ Rodrigo, and Harindu ‘Amare’ Amaratunga.
The PUBG MOBILE team consists entirely of players from team NRC, one of the most successful PUBG MOBILE teams in the country. They won the right to represent the nation by competing in the national qualifiers held last April. Before leaving the country, the team won another PUBG MOBILE event, carrying their winning momentum into the international competition. The squad was able to make it to the grand finals after a resilient display of skill and sportsmanship before ending their campaign at the knockout stage.
Mohammed Shihab Rizan is an eFootball pro. He played Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) for Sri Lanka in the Asian Games 2018 Regional Qualifier and he was the Sri Lankan flag bearer for last year’s World Esports Championship opening ceremony competed against the best eFootball players in the world but did not succeed in making it to the finals.
Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, has been at the helm of uplifting Esports for over a decade by powering gaming competitions in Sri Lanka. In the recent past, Dialog’s strategic partnership with SLESA has empowered the training and development of vital skills for avid local gamers and help bring structured Esports to all corners of the island. With the widest 4G coverage in Sri Lanka and constantly network optimisations, Dialog delivers on its commitment towards bridging the digital divide by enabling Esports to prosper in the rural peripheries of Sri Lanka. In the last ‘Free Fire Tourney’ organised by SLESA, the winning team emerged from the Moneragala district and was a testament to that commitment.
The Sri Lanka Esports Association was founded in 2010. The Ministry of Youth and Sports in Sri Lanka has recognized the association with its twelve member organisations as the regulating body for Esports in the country.
Gamer.LK, Sri Lanka’s premier Esports company is the Strategic Partner for the National Esports Team. At the forefront of Sri Lanka’s Esports industry, Gamer.LK’s consistent efforts in organising Esports tournaments and activities have caused a rapid growth in Sri Lankan Esports over the last decade.
