E-sports: NTUC Club steps up community gaming outreach with eight-team invitational

Team Forsaken are the winners of the eight-team invitational. PHOTO: THE GYM/NTUC CLUB
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) teams came together on the evening of March 5 for an eight-team invitational held at D’Marquee, Downtown East. PHOTO: THE GYM/NTUC CLUB
NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng dropped by at the event. PHOTO: THE GYM/NTUC CLUB

SINGAPORE - Some of the nation's up-and-coming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) teams came together on Friday (March 5) for an eight-team invitational in what was NTUC Club's first initiative to use e-sports as one of the key pillars to engage the youth and reach out to grassroots communities.

Organised by The Gym Esportscentre, in partnership with NTUC Club, the Friyay Night Gaming event featured teams of five members each taking part in mobile game MLBB. Members of the public were able to catch the action online even though the event at D'Marquee, Downtown East was held behind closed doors.

Gigi Low, NTUC Club's deputy director, membership engagement and experience said: "E-sports is taking off in Singapore in a big way and NTUC Club sees this as an exciting and trendy platform to engage Singapore's youth and the young-at-heart."

The e-sports industry here is growing with the emergence of various e-sports organisations and Government backing. The Gym and NTUC Club are planning to roll out more community gaming initiatives in the coming months.

Singapore successfully hosted some of the world's best MLBB players at the M2 World Championship in January and Singtel will also stage its first-ever independent MLBB professional league later this year.

One of the teams who took part on Friday were Team Forsaken. Team manager Roy Tan said he was heartened to hear that The Gym and NTUC Club are spearheading more community gaming initiatives. He added: "We hope that with this, the e-sports scene will continue to grow."

Another competitor, Kenny Cheng from Team Lost Souls said he was encouraged to see more engagement with the masses.

The 22-year-old said: "There are plenty of young people here who are interested to know more about e-sports and even take part in similar competitions. It's a great initiative to use e-sports as an avenue to engage the youth."

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