Electronic Sports, the competitive play of video games has become the fastest growing
sport over the last few years both worldwide and within Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka
Esports Association, founded in 2012 has been recognised by the Ministry of Youth &
Sports in Sri Lanka as the governing body for Esports in the country. The Association
has also provided the pathway for national Esports athletes to represent Sri Lanka at
international events such as the 18th Asian Games, Esports World Championships and
many more.
The Association has grown significantly since its inception and is now taking its first
steps into female representation in the National Esports team by enlisting six female
Dota 2 Esports athletes creating the nation’s first National Women’s Team for Dota 2.
The members of the team are Nadeeshani ‘FoXy’ Jayasinghe, Tikiri ‘Stardust’
Diasena, Zahra ‘Nerd’ Thajudeen, Nardhya ‘Prince$$’ Grero, Semini ‘JollyGood!’
Perera and Jessica ‘Chansica’ Devendra.
Tikiri ‘Stardust’ Diasena has been passionate about role-playing and strategy video
games all her life but moved into competitive form more recently in 2020.
Nardhya ‘Prince$$’ Grero has been a DOTA 2 player for 6 years and compares the
game to love – “It is both complex and beautiful. It can be difficult, but in the end it’s
worth it.”
Zahra ‘Nerd’ Thajudeen has played the game since 2014, and is driven by a strong
competitive spirit that combines teamwork and passion.
Semini ‘JollyGood!’ Perera joins the team with 4 years of experience within DOTA 2’s
intricate systems. She’s drawn to the game both by her competitive spirit and also a
family of like minded individuals she’s discovered through it.
Jessica ‘Chansica’ Devendra brings 6 years of experience to the team. What started
as a casual hobby, evolved into a regular grind to climb up the ranks in 2018.
Nadeeshani ‘FoXy’ Jayasinghe is a seasoned Esports Athlete across multiple genres,
consistently competing within the nation’s top tournaments and now taking her
experience to the world.
The team will represent Sri Lanka at international tournaments for Dota 2, the first of
which was the Global Esports Games 2021 organized by the Global Esports Federation.
The team competed within Region 1 of the Regional Qualifiers going head to head with
Mongolia in their first match. After hours of intense and strategic gameplay by the Sri
Lankan girls, Mongolia emerged the winner. However, the team acquired a significant
amount of exposure and experience that will be instrumental in honing their skills for the
future.
Dota 2, is one of the world’s most popular competitive multiplayer online battle arena
games that requires strong strategic thinking, teamwork and coordination. It is
commendable that despite the steep learning curve demanded by the game, the
National Women’s Team built a strong level of competency within just one month of
assembly to hold their own at an international platform.
The girls of the new National Women’s Team for Dota 2 have since continued their
training in preparation for more international tournaments in the coming months. Sri
Lanka Esports is backed by the strength and commitment of its main sponsor Dialog
and geared with Asus Republic of Gamers as the Official Gaming Laptop partner
alongside Gamer.LK as the strategic partner.
As one of Sri Lanka’s largest telecom service providers, Dialog is known for their home
broadband and wide range of data plans, which connects gamers all around the
country. Dialog also has a gaming subsidiary called Dialog Gaming, which hosts gaming
and Esports competitions. Recently, Dialog Gaming in collaboration with local
developers launched MegaPlay, an all-in-one e-Gaming mobile app, featuring a gamut
of hyper-casual games, to the delight of gamers island-wide.
ASUS Republic of Gamers, with their lineup of high end gaming laptops, which include
the Zephyrus, Zephyrus Duo, Strix Scar and ROG Flow series, offers gamers a
complete line of innovative products known for performance and quality, such as their;
laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, audio equipment, routers
and peripherals. ROG also participates in and sponsors major local & international
gaming events.
Along with the support of these partnerships, Sri Lanka Esports is poised to grow Sri
Lanka’s presence in the rising wave of Esports globally.
