Malaysia Crushes In Commonwealth Esports Championships with Copious Gold

You would think they would order the Commonwealth Esports Championships titles by alphabetical order, as is the standard format, but look at how these organisers purposely put their winnings at the top of the Commonwealth Esports Championships board: 

And the article is about India winning! 

The Commonwealth Esports Championships list would certainly look more standard like this: 

So as you can see the Malaysia esports team took home three gold medals at the Commonwealth Esports Championship held in Birmingham, England.

The tournament took place on the 6th of August, and saw Mohamad NorHaikal Mohamad Noh win the first gold medal in eFootball, beating Scottish player Gary McInnes, in two out of three matches. Cerith Dennis from Wales took home bronze.

“I am so happy, this is my dream. I have been waiting for this for years. It means so much to the people back home, lots of people are watching online, and I can hear all the messages coming in for me already," Mohamad Haikal said in a statement to the Global Esports Federation.

Malaysia also doubled down on gold in the Dota 2 female category by overcoming team England 2-0. Our neighbours in Singapore won bronze.

The Malaysian female Dota 2 squad consist of Stephanie Lim Yuen Lii, Bette Chia Hooi Ping, Tan Lyn Xhin, Nadrah Saufi, Wong Wei Sian and Lim Chern Tze.

"What makes Malaysia so good at games? We have a lot of different cultures in our country but we come together very well, and that is our strength," team captain Stephanie said to the press. A truly wonderful message of unity from Stephanie. 

On the second day of the championships (August 7th), the Malaysian team in the Dota 2 open category beat England 2-1 in the Grand Final match for the gold medal. The team consist of William Yeoh Kwok Teong, Denise Danial Abdullah, Chung Wei Shen, Ahmad Ayhad Husam, Pang Sze Xuan, and Loyd Yong Binjie. Our good friend India took home bronze medal.

The Malaysian esports team was formed under the Malaysia Electronics Sports Federation (MESF) with deputy president Afiq Fadhli Narawi as the team manager. 

The Commonwealth Esports Championships was held for the first time this year alongside the Commonwealth Games at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Overall, three titles were contested at the event including Rocket League, which Malaysia did not participate in.

The event was a result of a partnership between the Global Esports Federation and the Commonwealth Games Federation, which aims to explore the potential of esports as a major part of the Commonwealth Games in the future.

The Indian esports team captain Moin Ejaz said to the press: “This win symbolises the amount of hard work the team has put in over the years and we dedicate this win to our country. Winning a medal at the Commonwealth was a dream for us and we're super proud as a team,” . Captain Moin Ejaz together with Ketan Goyal, Abhishek Yadav, Shubhnam Goli and Vishal Vernekar - beat New Zealand 2-0 in a best-of-three games in the bronze medal playoff at the International Convention Centre.

“We hope that this win will encourage more tournaments around Dota 2 and other esports titles, which will help the ecosystem as a whole to grow in our country.”

And we here in Penang, Malaysia mirror your sentiments, captain Moin! 

The Commonwealth esports championships were held alongside the Commonwealth Games 2022 as a demonstration event. Unfortunately the tournaments were not an official CWG medal event. 

Uniquely enough, all titles had a women’s and open category. Firstly, why call it women then open category instead of men and women? Are the dolphins competing in Dota 2? 

Secondly, is it necessary to have a gender distinction in the field of esports? 

Regardless of your stance on gender distinction, the important point is Malaysia emerged as the most successful team, winning three golds, followed by England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who won one gold medal each.

Malaysia boleh! 

So what are you waiting for? 

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Credit: Grill Gaming, Olympic Games