Playing in international competition

The BOO! Protea Esports Team that attended IESF's 9th World Championships - Busan.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in certain quarters about who may, and who is eligible, to play in overseas competition.

The short  answer is that any person may play in any private competition.

Thus any South African gamer may enter ESL, WESG, Dreamhack, ESWC, etc., as those competitions are privately owned and do not form part of the officially recognised circuit.

In fact it has always been part of MSSA's policy to encourage teams to enter such.

It should be noted that MSSA even helped Energy eSports attend the ESWC in 2014 by helping to obtain deferred exams for two members of the team so that they could attend such the event.

MSSA believes that until more teams experience international competition, the standard of gaming in South Africa will not improve.

Thus all clubs should take advantage of National Lottery Funding, as such funding allows for travel to such events.

However, it should be noted that a club team playing in an event in a foreign country does not mean that such team is representing South Africa.

Only a team officially selected by MSSA may claim to represent South Africa.

Only the team so selected may be awarded Protea Colours.

Any queries apropos the above may be directed to mindsportssa@iafrica.com

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) never takes selection for a national team lightly.

I have written much on players receiving Protea Colours over the years.

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) never takes selection for a national team lightly.

Since being selected to officially represent South Africa for esports is the same as being represented by any other South African National Federation for any other sport, team selection must have great meaning to the esports players. The award of National Team status for esports also leads to comparisons from other sports as it is the highest level in esports, just as much as the Springboks are the highest level in rugby.

The selection process always has a dilemma as it is known that when choosing a team for international duty, concepts such as 'potential' does not have any meaning. Also, with South Africa being so far away from mainstream events, it is always difficult to relate how players who have performed well  at regional, provincial, and national championships will perform at a international level.

One only has  to remember the 2017 WESG earlier this year where South Africa's self-proclaimed 'best' team was slaughtered in both CS: GO and DotA 2.

That is why, with MSSA there is no automatic selection to the team.

Every player standing for selection has to reprove him/herself.

International competition is tough. Much tougher than  anything that you will encounter in South Africa, and that is part of the problem.

In my opinion a number of events, with their large cash prizes, do nothing to develop strength or depth. Such events seem to only promote the same old favoured few with no real eye to developing real gaming strength for the future. Without a long-term view, South African gaming will never improve and South African teams shall, in my opinion, remain the whipping boys of the international community.

I am too reminded of when MSSA brought out SK Gaming's CS:GO and DotA 2 teams in 2008.

MSSA arranged, as a courtesy, a 'friendly' between SK Gaming's CounterStrike: GO team against a South African club team. The match  was so one-sided, it was horrible. Since it was BO3, SK Gaming rather than thrash the local team again, just gave them the third game.

Such act lead to the local team claiming how they held off SK Gaming instead of taking a long hard look at themselves. People always tend to believe their own propaganda.

But I ramble.

In conclusion, for South Africa to  do well overseas, all teams must buy-in to a  long-term development programme and  not look to quick gratification. The average standard of play must be improved upon if players expect to improve the highest level of play.

While there are the exceptional cases of individuals who may achieve greatness in spite  of their surroundings, generally speaking, successful athletes are produced in successful environments which  have successful coaches, expert administrators, and efficient administration.

WESG: And the winner of DotA 2 is...

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The final has been completed, and the winner for DotA 2 is 'TNC Pro Team'.

WESG: The winner of StarCraft II is...

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The final has been completed, and the winner for StarCraft II is 'TY'.

WESG: And the winner of CS:GO is......

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The final has been completed, and the winner for CounterStrike: GO is 'Team EnVyUS'.

WESG: The winner for HearthStone is....

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The final has been completed, and the winner for HearthStone is 'Staz'.

WESG: Grand Final pairings.

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The results are coming in fast and furiously as the top club teams  battle it out for first place.

The pairings are:

CounterStrike: GO

DotA 2

HearthStone

StarCraft 2

WESG: Top four teams in CS knock-out stage after1st round of knock-out.

Click the logo for the WESG website.

The group stages are over and the top teams from each group have gone through.

Now it is up to the top four teams to see just which team is the WESG champion.

WESG: End of round 5 for CounterStrike

Click the logo for the WESG website.

As some will know there are twelve South Africans competing at WESG.

The current results are:

CounterStrike: GO

It should be noted that GODSENT pulled  out of the championship and all teams were awarded a win against them.

DotA 2

HearthStone

StarCraft 2

Great to see Edwin 'Drager' Williams who won MSSA's 2016 Gauteng Provincial Championships, winning his second game.

WESG: Resumption of hostilities - results of round 4 for CS and DotA and for round 2 for HearthStone.

Click the logo for the WESG website.

As some will know there are twelve South Africans competing at WESG.

The current results are:

CounterStrike: GO

It should be noted that GODSENT pulled  out of the championship and all teams were awarded a win against them.

DotA 2

HearthStone

StarCraft 2

Great to see Edwin 'Drager' Williams who won MSSA's 2016 Gauteng Provincial Championships, winning his second game.

WESG: Group A for Starcraft 2 is complete.

Click the logo for the WESG website.

As some will know there are twelve South Africans competing at WESG.

The current results are:

CounterStrike: GO

It should be noted that GODSENT pulled  out of the championship and all teams were awarded a win against them.

DotA 2

StarCraft 2

Great to see Edwain 'Drager' Williams who won MSSA's 2016 Gauteng Provincial Championships, winning his second game.

HearthStone

No games have been played in the South African's group.

WESG: Edwin Williams wins his second game.

Click the logo for the WESG website.

As some will know there are twelve South Africans competing at WESG.

The current results are:

CounterStrike: GO

It should be noted that GODSENT pulled  out of the championship and all teams were awarded a win against them.

DotA 2












StarCraft 2

Great to see Edwain 'Drager' Williams who won MSSA's 2016 Gauteng Provincial Championships, winning his second game.

HearthStone

No games have been played in the South African's group.

WESG early results

Click the logo for the WESG website.

As some will know there are twelve South Africans competing at WESG.

The current results are:

CounterStrike: GO


It should be noted that GODSENT pulled  out of the championship and all teams were awarded a win against them.











DotA 2












StarCraft 2

HearthStone

No games have been played in the South African's group.

Playing in international competition

CounterStrike: GO - Team eSports Romania with Team eSports South Africa

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in certain quarters about who may, and who is eligible, to play in overseas competition.

The short  answer is that any person may play in any private competition.

Thus any South African gamer may enter WESG, Dreamhack, ESWC, etc., as those competitions are privately owned and do not form part of the officially recognised circuit.

In fact it has always been part of MSSA's policy to encourage teams to enter such.

It should be noted that MSSA even helped Energy eSports attend the ESWC in 2014 by helping to obtain deferred exams for two members of the team so that they could attend such the event.

MSSA believes that until more teams experience international competition, the standard of gaming in South Africa will not improve.

Thus all clubs should take advantage of National Lottery Funding, as such funding allows for travel to such events.

However, it should be noted that a club team playing in an event in a foreign country does not mean that such team is representing South Africa.

Only a team officially selected by MSSA may claim to represent South Africa.

Only the team so selected may be awarded Protea Colours.

Any queries apropos the above may be directed to mindsportssa@iafrica.com

IeSF partners with Alisports

Internationale-Sports Federation (IeSF) has announced a partnership, so called ‘Exclusive Strategic Partnership’, with Alibaba Sports Group (Alisports) in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2016.

Alisports and IeSF first met in Beijing early this year. Although, it is a quite short period time to make something concrete between the two different parties, it quickly became clear that both parties shared the same vision on future goals which quickly enabled IeSF and Alisports to reach consensus for such partnership.

There are three specific goals which both shared.

• First, both parties want to have a tournament in which both amateur e-Sports players and professional e-Sports players can participate. By pursuing this objective, IeSF will fully endorse WESG Game Series initiatives.
• Second, both parties shall work together to have e-Sports accredited as a sport.
• Last but not least, both parties will create the unique IP necessary to support the aims and objectives as mentioned in the above points.

IeSF’s World Championship’s journey started in 2009, thus IeSF now has the necessary know-how, experience, resources and more in terms of operating tournaments as well as having global coverage through its 47 member National Federations. These various strengths from IeSF will support the World Electronic Sports Games, WESG, hosted by Alisports to be a tournament which can benefit e-Sports players, fans, and officials.

IeSF has put great efforts to enter International Sports Society. IeSF has been approved as one of the official signatories of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2013. IeSF is currently an international member of The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA) and IeSF is approved as counterpart for e-Sports discipline by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). IeSF is preparing documentation to submit to International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Sport Accord at this moment. IeSF will now spread its wings to enter International Sports Society with support from Alisports.

To make sports market-oriented and gaming sports-oriented, Alisports hosts WESG with a total prize more than $5.5 million and total investment more than 1 billion yuan ($149 million), attracting e-Sports players from over 100 countries and regions in this inauguration. Meanwhile, Alisports is also planning to build e-Sports Stadiums around China, in the hope to make e-Sports become a way of life.

Alisports CEO, Mr. Zhang Dazhong addressed the gathered audience, saying: “As the most authoritative international organization in e-sports industry, IeSF has been committed to promoting e-Sports movement into the mainstream, including pushing it into the Olympic Games, which is consistent with our ideal. We are honoured to cooperate with IeSF as the exclusive global partners in the long-term. I believe the two sides will jointly promote the development of the global e-Sports industry. “

IeSF President, Mr. Byung Hun Jun said “This partnership is one big step to IeSF. I believe IeSF and Alisports will maximize each other’s strength by this partnership. I also believe e-Sports Stadium can be transformed to be a fashion place for Youth. IeSF will make our all effort to be with more e-Sports fans in more countries together with Alisports from now on.”

▶ About IeSF

The International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is an International Union governing e-Sports globally, established in 2008. Currently IeSF retains 47 member National Federations. As e-Sports has been perceived as one of potential Sport disciplines, those National Federations are getting closer to be recognized by National Sport Authorities such as Ministry of Sport and National Olympic Committees.

Since 2009, IeSF has been hosting e-Sports World Championship every year. Also, IeSF cooperates with various International Sport Bodies. IeSF has been approved as one of the official signatories of World Anti-Doping Agency in 2013, and since then, IeSF has been operating doping control for every event. Also, IeSF is official counterpart of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as an International member of TAFISA (The association For International Sport for All).

As taking further step, IeSF is aiming for affiliation to Sport Accord. IeSF is also an officially recognized applicant for the International Olympic Committee. IeSF has received an official letter from the IOC on April 17^th. IeSF will be submitting all relevant documents by August 31^st 2016 and will receive the results in December.

▶ About Alisports

Alisports, founded in September 2015, is a sports platform established with the aim of placing the entire range of services from ticketing and broadcasting rights to rights management in one hand. It devotes to building the basic sports economy platform with the thinking of Internet and developing sports business both online and offline. Alisports consequently strives to create value and make contributions to the international and domestic sports associations.

Alisports addresses the interests of both spectators and sportspersons. The utilisation of internet-based technologies will play a decisive role in the transformation of the sports industry in China. Alisports is a subsidiary company of the Alibaba Group, the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume.