GEORGE TOWN, December 26 – In partnership with SEGi University & Colleges (SEGi), Anemos Management Sdn Bhd (ANEMOS), Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Toygarden, Illegear, TTRacing, Yogood, Ticket2u, Celcius, Liquid Marketing, and Kantin Lab, Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) had organized the Youth Esports Challenge 2021 that was accessible to all Malaysians aged 15 to 30-year-old.
Participants must register as a team of five. There were 32 League of Legends teams with 160 players, and 16 Valorant teams with 80 players, for a total of 240 players in the competition. After 16 rounds, quarterfinals, semi-finals, and final, the winners of both events were selected. In League of Legends, team 4Protect1 came in fourth place with RM250 and 500 enrich points, followed by team SEM9, which finished as 2nd Runner Up with RM500 and 1000 enrich points, as well as a prize of RM500 + Economy Return Flight Tickets (inside West Malaysia) for all five members of the team.
Team Expired Gaming was named 1st Runner Up, receiving RM1000 in prize money and Economy Return Flight Tickets (East and West Malaysia), as well as 2000 reward points for all five team members. The 4 Old + Young team was crowned League of Legends champions, taking home a top prize of RM1500 plus business class return flights (East and West Malaysia) for all five members, as well as 3000 reward points.
Valorant’s winner had also been determined using the same format. Team Arcturus.MagicalBears emerged in fourth place with an RM250 prize, followed by team SuddenLy, who came in as 2nd Runner Up with an RM500 prize and a Yogood Hamper for all five members. The 1st Runner Up was Team BBG, who received a gift of RM1000 and five Yogood hampers. Valorant’s champion were team 0Zero, who were awarded a grand prize of RM2000 as well as five units of Yogood Hamper.
The closing ceremony of this event was officiated by Dr. Gwee Sai Ling, General Manager of PYDC. Present on the ceremony were Edward Low, Senior Manager of Students and Corporate Services of SEGi Group of Colleges, Calvin Chan, Principal of SEGi College Subang Jaya, Azizan Ahmad, Global Marketing Manager of Malaysia Airlines, Junita, founder of Yogood, Henry Ting, founder of TTRacing, Henry Chia, founder of Ticket2u, Alvin, founder of ToyGarden, Albert, marketing department of Illegear, Vincent Low, marketing department of Kantinlab.
Furthermore, PYDC General Manager, Dr Gwee Sai Ling said that many of the same benefits of grass sports are seen in Esports, albeit without the actual exertion, according to studies. Participating in organized Esports tournaments teaches youths collaboration, communication, strategy, and sportsmanship. She also added that the players will benefit from the advent of this Youth Esports challenge 2021 since it will help them further strengthen the cognitive skills they are presently honing on the field.
In addition, Gwee also added that, the Penang Youth Development Corporation has rose to the challenge to be a part of this initiative to tap into the eports scene, with the backing of the Penang State Government. This industry has a high number of youth and athlete engagements, as well as multimillion-dollar industries. It is right of passage for Malaysia’s government to take an active role in the development of esports. She finished her speech by hoping that the success of this event will paved way for more tournaments in this country and produce more world-class eSports talents.
