KUCHING: Sarawak representatives at the ESports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia hope to inspire Sarawakian Esports athletes to work hard and be scouted by top teams in the world.
Speaking to Sarawak Tribune recently, Kelvin Unting hopes to participate in the ESports World again and that the Sarawak esports community becomes aware of their presence as esports professionals.
“I also hope that any Sarawak NGOs (non-governmental organisations) or government organisations can recognise our talents and skills and provide us with a platform to guide or share knowledge with the Sarawak esports community,” he expressed.
Kelvin’s expectation was to qualify for the playoffs (top eight) and unfortunately they were one step away from top 4 losing to the Russia team (Victory Song Gamers).
Joining Kelvin at the EWC who is the coach for Cloud9 in the Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) female category is Kelvin Pang as the Mental and Performance Coach for Team Secret (Honor of Kings) and Chris Yeo as events panelist.
Both Pang and Chris are from Kuching, while Kelvin is from Sibu.
Pang said that since this is a club based championship, both Cloud9 and Team Secret are already partner teams for the Esports World Cup.
“We hope that we can return next year. But we also strongly urge Sarawakian esports athletes to work hard so that they can be scouted by the top teams in the world.
“We believe we can be the bridge to link them up with our respective teams,” said Pang.
Kelvin said that the hardest challenge he faced was the time zone difference, requiring him to wake up at 6 am to coach until 12 pm daily.
“During the group stage, we were matched with strong teams from Indonesia and Cambodia, and my target was to qualify for the playoffs.
“It was difficult to predict our success, as this was a new team from a new country participating in the Esports World Cup (EWC) Mobile Legend Women’s Invitational (MWI).
“In the end, we qualified for the playoffs, and it was a gratifying day,” he said.
Kelvin was brought into Cloud9 as a coaching staff three weeks before the tournament started.
“Cloud9 is the biggest organisation in the United States, and for the EWC: MWI, I was brought in to coach the North American team.
“With less than a month of preparation, my goal was to guide them from basic to advanced strategies. Despite the short timeframe, we managed to advance to the playoffs and finish in the top 8,” he shared.
In addition to this, both Kelvin and Pang hope to see Sarawak esports athletes in the next EWC edition.
