Team Curtin University Malaysia among top teams in ACE Championship Playoffs

Miri – 19 December 2018 – Team Curtin University Malaysia was among the top teams in the recent Alliance of Campus Esports (ACE) Championship Playoffs held at Sunway Velocity Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

It emerged first runner-up for Dota 2 in the inaugural competition which featured two games – Dota 2 and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB). The team walked away with a cash prize of RM6,000.

Team Curtin University Malaysia comprised cyber security student Yeo Swee En, electrical and electronic engineering student Ariston Antonio Calipusan, banking and finance student Derek Stanley Norman Guang, and mechanical engineering students Cheah Jia Min and Yeo Wei Kiat. All are members of the Curtin E-Sports Club at the university.

The playoffs saw eight teams battling for the title of being the best Dota 2 and MLBB players in Malaysia. The eventual champion for Dota 2 was Team Swift from Sunway University, while Team Ultra Instinct from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was crowned the MLBB champion.

The ACE Championship is a multi-title e-sports tournament for university and college students featuring a total championship prize pool of RM38,000. Registration must be done through the universities’ e-sports clubs and each university is allowed to field a maximum of 2 teams for each game. The tournament was broadcasted live on Channel 808 (eGG) on Astro.

According to Derek, apart from stress relief, e-sports can help one develop critical soft skills.

“Some people say gaming is bad, but on the contrary, we have learned much from it. Video games have helped boost our strategic thinking, teamwork, communication skills, leadership and self-confidence. The number of bright and highly competitive students from so many universities competing in the tournament says something about its positive aspects,” said Derek.

The participating universities and colleges were Curtin University Malaysia, UKM, UNIMAS, UMS, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, UPSI, UNITEN, MSU, UCSI University, IIUM, MMU, UTAR, Sunway University, ADE, Taylor’s University, TAR University College, UMP, UTEM, USM, Eastern College and UTP.

The Curtin E-Sports Club was established in 2017 to provide a platform for students of all academic disciplines to showcase their talents in e-sports. For more information on the Curtin E-sports Club, visit its Facebook page (Curtin E-Sports Club) or its website (curtinesportclub.wixsite.com).

Team Curtin (L-R) Yeow Swee En, Ariston Antonio Callipusan, Yeo Wei Kiat, Derek Stanley Norman Guang, Cheah Jia Min with tournament official