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Macau Growing up

Written by Ben Blaschke

Macau’s eSports stars produced their best ever result at the recent World eSports Championships in South Korea.

Macau’s emerging eSports stars punched well above their weight to reach the play-off rounds at this year’s 9th eSports World Championships in Busan, South Korea in November – the country’s best ever result in the prestigious international event.

Despite going up against some of the world’s finest players, with 328 national delegations from 36 countries represented, Macau reached the final 16 in Tekken 7 and the final eight in League of Legends – a remarkable result for the tiny Chinese enclave.

In the end it was only the might of host nation South Korea – who eliminated Macau in both disciplines and were crowned overall champions for the seventh time – that halted their run.

“We are very happy with the results achieved by Macau in the eSports World Championship this year,” said Fernando Pereira, President of Grow uP eSports.

“We were able to secure multiple victories while losing only against the Koreans who are known for being the worldʼs best.”

“We hope to increase our competitiveness and that next year we will see an increased participation among Macau youth as well as attracting even more support for our athletes.”

The eSports World Championships, first held in 2009, is the only international eSports competition based on nationality.

Despite taking part for just the second time after making its debut in Jakarta in 2016, Macau produced a string of victories this time around with its StarGalactic team scoring wins over Tunisia, Costa Rica and Israel in League of Legends to make it all the way through to the quarter-finals.

Tekken 7 representative KAIO won against South Africa, Namibia and Azerbaijan in the group stages before falling in the Round of 16.

The team was supported by Grow uP eSports, a Macau-based non-profit association that aims to create and develop an eSports industry headquartered in Macau but operating throughout the ASEAN region.

The 10th eSports World Championships will be held in 2018 in Chinese Taipei.