The SLT eSports Women’s Cyber Games organised by Gamer.LK is happening this weekend at Colombo City Centre and everyone’s excited to see who’ll take the top spots at the tournament. We have had women’s league in previous tournaments, but this is the first time an event is completely dedicated for female Esports athletes. Also, there’s a Rs. 100,000 prize pool up for grabs, distributed amongst the top 8 players of the tournament – exciting stuff! We’ve put together a list of women Esports athletes who you should keep an eye out for at the tournament – these girls have performed well at previous tournament and are bound to rack up some good points with their previous tournament experience!

Himasha ‘HiMA’ Perera

With a strong history in Esports, Himasha ‘HiMA’ Perera from Noob Alliance is a top contender for the 1st place title at the Women’s Cyber Games. Having multiple podium finishes at both the SLT Esports Tournament and SLCG, she’s a force to be reckoned with. She’s won the 2nd place title for both Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat XL at SLCG, as well as the 1st place title for Need for Speed at SLCG. She has also competed in the Call of Duty 4 tournament at SLCG.

Tharaki ‘Ivy’ Wackwella

Another contender from Noob Alliance, Tharaki ‘Ivy’ Wackwella has shown great potential at the SLT Esports tournament, placing 3rd for both Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat XL. She is also a Call of Duty 4 player and took part at SLCG. We look forward to seeing her perform at full capacity at the Women’s Cyber Games.

Sewwandi ‘Cindy’ Liyanage

A highly notorious name in the Sri Lankan community, Sewwandi ‘Cindy’ Liyanage from Tech Morph is yet another strong contender to look out for at the Women’s Cyber Games. A highly skilled FPS player, Cindy is infamous for carving her name out in the Call of Duty 4 community by ruthlessly beating the competition in a male-dominated game and made her presence felt by everyone. Now an Esports veteran who often plays in open tournaments, Cindy has her sights locked on the Women’s Cyber Games.

Kavindee ‘Vinky’ Kariyawasam

A regular participant for Mario Kart, Kavindee ‘Vinky’ Kariyawasam from Noob Alliance has shown great prowess in the title. Winning 2nd and 3rd places at the SLT Esports tournament and SLCG, Vinky’s performance has been near consistent. Not only does Vinky specialize in racing games, but she also competes in COD4.

Laroshi ‘chix0r’ Ganegoda

Laroshi Ganegoda aka chix0r has been around for quite a while. A standalone competitor with no allegiance to any clan, chix0r is no stranger to competitive Esports in Sri Lanka. A regular at Esport events, she started participating in competitive Esports in 2015 and has won many titles over the years. Consistent at the Women’s League, chix0r has won places at the SLT Esports tournament and SLCG for Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat XL.

Kasuni ‘Teehee’ Lokuarachchi

Teehee, another Noob Alliance player, captained the winning Call of Duty 4 team at SLCG last year. With her COD4 skills, it’s a sure shot for her to put some high points on the board in the Call of Duty 4 segment. The question comes in whether she can pull her weight in the other titles which she hasn’t got a podium finish before.

Notable mentions

These players are notable mentions because they’ve won events in the past, but unfortunately the titles they’ve won aren’t being played at the Women’s Cyber Games. It’ll be Project Cars in simulator racing format, which is different from the keyboard competition for Need For Speed played at previous SLCG and SLT events.

Dhinelka Anthony (Phoenix Gaming) – 1st place for Need For Speed SLCG
Tharushi Liyanage (Maximum Esports) – 2nd place for Need for Speed at SLCG and 3rd place at SLT Esports Championship
Piyumi Madhushani (Maximum Esports) – 3rd place for Need for Speed at SLCG

Sysco Labs Esports day was organised by Sysco Labs in partnership with Gamer.LK on the 25th of March, with titles such as Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed Most Wanted and the main attraction being Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare with Tekken 7 as a promotional title.

Gamer.LK organises the annual Mercantile Esports Championship which brings the competitive play of video games to workplaces. With over 100 companies taking part in last year’s Championship, it has become the largest sporting event at the Mercantile level. Sysco Labs has continued to perform well at the Championship by preparing and practising together with all their players and establishing a competitive video gaming culture within the company.

The main goal with the organising of their own Esports day was to find the best Esports athletes from within their ranks and showcase their talent and recognise them within the company. The enthusiasm shown by Sysco by putting together the event stands testament to Gamer.LK’s efforts in taking Esports to the masses.

There was a combination of teams named Lomu, Jordan, Phelps, Schumacher, Tyson, Maradona, Bradman and Bolt with each team fielding representatives for each title. Game 1 between team Phelps and team Schumacher was an intense neck to neck game which eventually ended up as a tie and had to be taken to an extra map where team Schumacher managed to clutch out the victory in the end.

Many of the participants actually had never taken part at an Esports tournament before and found it exciting and interesting as they were not expecting such a competitive environment as the stereotype for gaming has always been a casual aspect that people enjoy at the luxury of their homes. The teams displayed a great gaming spirit as they all fought as hard as they could till the end of the game not giving up at any point.

Closing out the proceedings with the grand finals was the COD4 match between team Maradona and team Schumacher which was definitely an eye-opening match as it seemed like team Maradona actually had the game in the bag until team Schumacher made a 5 round comeback to bring it to a 1 round deficit. As they could not keep the pace we saw team Maradona managing to take it back and clutch the victory, in the end, giving team Maradona not just the victory in COD4 but the overall victory for the event as well. We were able to speak to one of the organisers regarding the event overall and this is what they had to say.

“Esports Championship was a successful first tribal event  organized by Ministry Of Fun at Sysco Labs partnering with Gamer.lk

The event was well organized by gamer.lk and the employees had fun battling for their tribe”

“Mirunaaliny S Iyer”

The day concluded with some new experience for everyone involved and once again showcasing just how far Esports has come making it a norm even in the working communities for people to get together and have a competitive environment in the comfort of their own workspace.

The winners for the event were as follows

COD4

Winner: Maradona

( Vijayindu Gamage, Ramith Lasitha, Chamil Prabodha , Achintha Reemal, Madhushika Weeramange )

Runner Up: Schumacher

( Janitha Samarasinghe , Rajitha Rajasooriya , Chamara Liyanage, Janith Bandara , Shakya Herath )

2nd Runners up: Lomu

(Abith Latiff , Nisal Muthugala , Dinuka Nadeeshan , Yohan Silva , Thilini Fernando)

MK XL Men

Winner : Ashan Maduranga (Phelps)

Runner Up: Nisal Weerakoon (Maradona)

2nd Runners up: Isham Mohamed (Lomu)

MK XL Female

Winner : Naduni Mendis (Maradona)

Runner Up: Anusha Ihalapathirana (Phelps)

2nd Runners up: Thilini Jayawardana (Jordan)

NFS Most Wanted

Winner : Angelo Senaratne (Bolt)

Runner Up: Nandula Jayamaha (Phelps)

2nd Runners up: Munsif Musthafa (Maradona)

Overall Tournament

Champions : Maradona

Runners up : Phelps

2nd Runners up : Lomu

Make sure to keep track for more corporate events coming up from Gamer.LK and for Mercantile Esports that will be in July 2019 which is going to be bigger and better than ever this year.