Drug testing for Protea Teams.

In July 2015 the International Esports Federation, told WIRED.co.uk that the use of substances such as Adderall is "definitely" a problem in the field, and outlined its plans to address the problem in its tournaments. "Definitely, doping is a problem in esports, as any other existing sport". 

"Activities and performances can all be explained within the range of physiology, and as using the physiological approach, esports must be directly influenced by any doping activity in terms of performance".

IESF has worked vigorously to establish esports as a recognised sport alongside more conventional codes and has thus partnered with TAFISA and the IAAF in recent years, and has enjoyed much success. 

Since 2013, IESF has been recognised as the official signatory of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). 

IESF has thus also developed its own anti-doping regulations and conducted doping tests in line with the WADA Code and guidelines.

Many since 2013 have been surprised when 'requested' to participate in the random testing procedure at IESF World Championships in Bucharest, Baku, Seoul, Jakarta and Busan.

South Africa,being a full member of IESF through Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA), has no intention of being caught-out or having any athlete fall foul of such testing at IESF's World Championships.

It is for the above reason that MSSA shall have mandatory drug testing at its National Team Trials.

Players who qualify for such Trials are requested to familiarize themselves with the WADA criteria, and those under medication, are requested to comply with the rules in regard to obtaining a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).

The bigger picture.

Time line of IESF's achievements.

With  esports sitting on the cusp of much greater things, there are still many gamers who do not see the full picture and only see a small segment.

The International Esports Federation (IESF) which was founded in 2008, has tirelessly worked away at having esports accredited as a sport by the main international controlling bodies.

Besides having organised and run World Championships consistently from 2009 through to 2017, IESF has had a number of important milestones with major sporting bodies like OCA, WADA, TAFISA, IAAF, and FISU.

Membership of IESF has shot up from the 8 original founding member federations in 2008 to 46 member federations.

Even the most major of private companies involved in esports, like ESL, openly backs the formation of national federations, please read: ESL helps found Germany’s Esports Association - eSport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD)

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is cognisant of the changes occurring on the world platform, MSSA has  been affiliated to IESF since 2009, and fully subscribes to IESF's long-term vision.

In my opinion so should every organisation involved in esports. From the smallest LAN and online championship operator, to the biggest.

The global vision expounded by IESF will benefit all, just as MSSA's efforts have done so in South Africa. Without MSSA having had esports accredited as a sport in 2005, would the current growth and benefits that are accruing be possible?

Esports is changing and evolving.

This is a great time to be involved.

A steady, onward progression.

Since those initial days in 2008 when the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) was formed in 2008, few could have imagined just how far, and how much, IeSF would come, and achieve.

The founding fathers, of course, had faith in having an international  controlling body that would be able to guide the development of esports and bring out  effective programmes that would in the long term protect the players.

IeSF through its strong volunteer base  has promoted esports  to an unheard of level where such sport has been accepted into the more traditional sporting fraternity.

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is proud to be a member, and MSSA is convinced that  its membership will produce long-term results  that will benefit all gamers who go the accredited sporting route.

Markus Koskivirta, IeSF's first chairperson of IeSF's Referees' Commission.

Markus Koskivirta (on left) witnessing the Athletes' Oath at IeSF's 8th World Championships - Jakarta.

 International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) elected Markus Sakari Koskivirta (Finland), as the Chairperson of IeSF’s Referee Commission in June 2017.

             Starting his referee career in 2009, Markus Koskivirta has successfully held various positions as a top class referee. Markus was selected as, and held, the position of head referee of IeSFs 8th Esports World Championship.

"I'm very thankful for this opportunity to ensure the high quality of IeSF World Championship now and in the future. The Rules and Regulations used for competitions are what make a tournament reliable and ensure an even ‘playing field’ for all participants. In addition to guaranteeing the integrity of the World Championship I believe the Commission can benefit other esports operatives by creating a standardized set of rules and guidelines for use openly and around the world. I'm personally looking forward to starting the work in collaboration with the members of the Commission as soon as possible.” said Markus Koskivirta, the new Chairperson of IeSF’s Referee Commission.

             IeSF’s Referee Commission will be focusing on the management of competition regulations for its Esports World Championships. It will also have input on the criteria for venues, regulations for equipment, to allow esports athletes to play in a standardized environment. The commission shall also establish a training system to educate potential esports referees in relation to the International Esports Academy. Such training of referees is designed to support esports athletes once their gaming careers have ended.

             “IeSF is very pleased to appoint Mr. Koskivirta as the Chair” said Alex Lim, Secretary General of IeSF. “With his expertise, IeSF trusts that the new referee commission will be a milestone for standardizing the international esports scene, which is also one of the core mission of IeSF. We will continue enhance the esports ecosystem and create more values for the welfare of esports athletes for the better of esports and protection of players.”

St John's learner shows ability beyond his years

Jason Batzofin - Team Manager of  Team eSports South Africa - Jakarta

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has always believed in giving youth the chance to step up to the plate in order to lead.

Thus MSSA invests heavily in its athletes.

It has certainly been no different with Jason Batzofin (of St John's College) who in July 2016 was sent to Shanghai (China) to become one of the founding members of IeSF's Athlete's Commission.

Such is MSSA's belief in Jason's potential, that MSSA appointed Jason, on reaching his age of majority, as the Protea eSports Team Manager for the SA Protea eSports Team that travelled to Jakarta.

Jason accepted the task and swiftly rose to the challenge.

Backed by an  incredibly supportive family and MSSA, Jason hurdled each obstacle to deliver the team safely to IeSF's 8th World Championships - Jakarta. While there Jason dealt expeditiously with all issues - both large and small, to ensure that the team could properly concentrate on the event itself.

MSSA is absolutely satisfied with Jason's performance in the role of team Manager and expects even greater achievements from him in the future.

Korea is victorious at IeSF’s 2016 e-Sports World Championship - Jakarta

Top three countries

IeSF’s8th World Championship 2016 - Jakarta, officially ended on the 9^th of October 2016.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals were held on the previous day, being the 8^th of October, with the finals being played on the 9^th of October 2016 where all the title winners for three different game titles were decided.

The overall winner was Korea, which, remarkably, witnessed its League of Legends team finish the tournament without a single loss.Korea’s League of Legends team won the title by winning all the sets of games in the final, while its Counter Strike: Global Offensive team finished the tournament in 3^rd place overall. Korea’s HearthStone team, while only finishing in 4^th place, earned sufficient points to push the Korean national team into first place overall.

The total points earned by Korea was 152 to once again regain the top rank.

The overall runner-up was Finland, whose Counter Strike: Global Offensive team won the the CounterStrike: GO title, with 111 total points.

Austria, which only participated in HearthStone, came on the 3^rd place by earning 100 points for winning such title.

Team China, stayed on the 4^th place with total points of 98.

The opening of the 8^th IeSF World Championship 2016 Jakarta, saw a bevy of who's who at the opening, such as, IeSF Board Members, IeSF President Mr. Byung Hun Jun, IeSF Vice-President Mr Silviu Storie, officials from the Indonesian e-Sports Association, as well as personnel from The Association For International Sports for All.

During the 4 days of the tournament, many top-class games occurred which drove the crowds wild while a various events hosted by KEK TV, RAZER, ASUS, allowed visitors to experience a wider range of entertainment.

Thanks to the cooperation with TAFISA, there was a great deal of interest from the media which benefited the sponsors.

Colin Webster giving his speech

Colin Webster, Board Member of IeSF, gave the closing speech. The current status of e-sports becoming a global sport was emphasised, while at the same time asking the players to foster a sense of ethics to further develop e-sports.

Consequently, Korea’s winning back the 1^st place in the global ranking as well as the honour of the country in which e-sports is claimed to have started.

As for IeSF World Championship, as the sole e-sports competition based on nationality, the championship ended with great success once again.

Already everybody is looking forward to the 2017 competition.

23 Countries enter League of Legends - IeSF's 8th World Championships - Jakarta

IeSF's e-Sports World Championship is the sole international e-Sports competition based on nationality.

The 8^th edition, bears  greater weight than ever  before since it is being held at the same time, and at  the same venue, as The Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA) World Games.

Of course Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has delivered teams in the  past to TAFISA events, for example, Thailand in 1996 and to Lithuania in 2012.

Who could forget that the 1996 Chef d' Mission was in fact Danny Jordaan  of SAFA fame?

When perusing all the names of the players, the reader should be struck by  the fact that  only South Africa has once again dared to send a mixed team.

Maryke 'Ykie' Kennard, once  again is the sole rose among the thorns.

With Matthew Smith as Team eSports South Africa's captain, there is no doubt that the South African team will upset just a few at the world championships.

IeSF will be supporting each nation with 200,000 USD for athlete travel according to the performance level of each National Federation and quality of qualifying procedures that each of them took to select their national representatives.

No.	Country	Team Name	Player name	Nick name
1	Australia	Omega	Vincent Lin	gunkrab
			Luke Duske	clown syndrome
			Paris Sitzoukis	YAC SOULI
			Jonothan Cannon	eLy bluz0r
			Stewart Riesenweber	eLy Flick
2	Azerbaijan	Legendary Gaming	Faraj Nasirli	F0rtun3
			Huseyn Nasirli	Dragy
			Tofig Huseynov	Merlin
			Mikhail Strepetov	Egruocs
			Nurlan Madatov	Godfather
3	Belgium	Team Belgium	Aaron Serneels	berrywhite
			Sander Schuermans	imheat
			Lenny Uyterrhoeven	lenny
			Brent De Laet	sigma
			Robbe Dobbeleers	Anthrax
4	Brazil	Team Brazil	Bruno Garcia	CWG Kennedys
			Diego Jara	CWG Sephis
			Douglas Dos Santos	CWG Vampyrus
			Samuel Assis	CWG Huxy
			Diego Pinhe Robalinho De Queiroz	CWG DLC
5	China	Team China	Fan shi
			Junxuan Zhou
			Zhi Ke
			Haoshun Wu
			Xin He
6	Costa Rica	Team Costa Rica	Josué Rodríguez Monge	7Aster
			Stiven Cordero Murillo	Choisix
			Alonso Reyes Morales	Sandroxx
			Esteban Matamoros Valverde	EstebanMegaK
			Andres Nunez Campos	Bazu
7	Egypt	Frost Guards	Kotb Amr
			Hamed Ramy
			Abo Galala Ahmed
			El Sayed Khaled
			Abdel Hamid Karim
8	Indonesia	Team Indonesia	Ananda Rizky
			Adi Riansyah
			Zainal Hakim
			Gerry Arisena
			Muhammad Naufal
9	Italy	Nazionale Personal Gamer League of Legends	Nicola Paolucci	Gnaff0
			Giacomo Manconi	CounterG0d
			Valerio Cepale	Valex
			Luca Incorvaia	Crashhh
			Stefano Passini	PsychoPas
10	Korea (South)	Team Korea	Haram Kim	HARAM
			Hosung Ryu	Hoit
			Jeongmin Yoon	yongsu
			Chanju Lee	Lion
			Min Cho	Ming
11	Macau (China)	G4ES	Ka Kin Leong	Eric
			Meng Chong Kou	Alex
			Chak Hou Wai	Jonhson
			U Son Yau	NH
			Fernando Delmundo Gabriel	Na
12	Macedonia	EON	Viktor Kordanovski	The Fallen Angel
			Martin Ivanovski	Kuon
			Valjmir Fejzula	GoldenTo4st
			Jane Vasov	Gizmawks
			Hristijan Blazheski	asyrh shrimp
13	Malaysia	Orange Esports	Seong Yoong	Yoong
			Wein Lee	Lee
			Song Chin	Chin
			Jye Lim	Lim
			Jerrel Hoe Wong	Wong
14	Netherlands	Dorans Alpha	Henricus Van Roestel	Snitsky
			Jasper Hermsen	Djep0
			Job Goossens	Slyv3r
			Philip Teunissen	Erudite
			Rudolf Brus	Dirco
15	New Zealand	eBlacks	Cameron Russell	Crunch
			Kevin Wu	KayWu
			Adam Mason	liberty
			Adrian Desilvestro	Opaque
			Huu Pham	Bobo
16	Philippines	Acion Arena	Jayson Dela Victoria	Jayson
			Robert Rey Tan	Rey
			Jason Clark Galang	Jason
			Neil Harold Gabriel	Neil
			Mark Wendell Perante	Mark
17	Romania	Nexus	Octav Cretu	Ang
			George Savu	Speedy
			Andrei Popa	Orome
			Cosmin Danila	Chevalier
			Laurian Avrigeanu	Khantos
18	Russia	Albus NoX Sidus	Ivan Nikolaev	Hi im Ratxi
			Konstantin Shubin	LaKostya solotop
			Dmitry Korovushkin	Dimonk0
			Daniil Klimanov	Shalnoy Lo1
			Daniils Vlasov	apmzero
19	Serbia	Team Serbia	Dorde Lapcevic	Baxauer
			Gvozden Moljkovic	zdengvo
			Jovan Jovanović	Demented Clown
			Luka Todorovic	kaLuGG
			Pavle Kostic	Yoppa
20	South Africa	Team eSports South Africa	Matthew Smith	Feno
			Johan Uys	Harlem
			Taylor Rose	Elis
			Johan Van Breda	Joe
			Maryke Kennard	Ykie
21	Sweden	Wyvern e-Sports	Lars Gabrielsson	Ripqq Mcfreezt
			Frank Norqvis	Swag
			Elias Edlund	Kakan
			Steven Keay Kridiotis	wazzari
			Anton Sten	Heatz
22	Switzerland	Dead Pixels	Seyed Ali Nasserzadeh	Lagily
			Seyed Mahdi Nasserzadeh	Pride
			Steffen Sinkwitz	Talosin
			Marin Pudic	GoldenGod
			Joshua Lim	Wild Joshy
23	Tunisia	Armoured Brothers	Ayoub Chamakhi	MYI Azra
			Ali Gaaloul	Gaaloul
			Aymen jedallah	AlphaG Lokmays
			Oussama Bousselmi	osmo
			Haithem Attia	Armoured Dean