THOUSANDS of e-gaming enthusiasts tuned in online to watch gamers in Bahrain battle it out for thousands of dinars worth of prizes.
Hundreds of gamers are competing in the BOC Gaming Tournament, which includes PUBG Mobile and FIFA20, and is being held in association with KHK Esports and Bahrain Comic Con.
The competition aims to elevate the gaming scene in Bahrain as well as place the kingdom on the global gaming map.
KHK Esports and the tournament are both initiatives launched by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) president and Brave Combat Federation founder Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa in line with national efforts urging people to stay at home as the kingdom combats the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
KHK Esports chief operations officer Khalid Bukhari told the GDN that the tournament had proved a success with the first two days witnessing around 5,000 views daily on the designated YouTube channel for live streaming.
“On the first day we had almost 800 people playing Fifa20 at one time and on the second we had around 400 people and every single person who registered played so that was really good,” he added.
“We didn’t expect that number of views and it’s a huge accomplishment for us and the e-gaming world when it comes to Bahrain.
“The tournament will continue throughout this week with quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals until Wednesday and we’re hoping to end both games together at the same time.
“We had around 600 people playing PUBG Mobile – 300 on each day – and we caught around 100 hackers who were all disqualified.
Footage
“We took two days off to calculate all the points of PUBG Mobile which was extremely hard for 600 people and we had to go through the footage of the gameplay of every contestant which was time -consuming to make sure that there wasn’t any hacking.”
Mr Bukhari also revealed that future plans include adding more games, such as Fortnight and Call of Duty, to the competitive scene with hopes of placing Bahrain on the global e-gaming map.
He also thanked the entire Bahraini gaming community for supporting Shaikh Khalid’s initiative and highlighted that people’s support allowed KHK Esports to grow bigger as an entity.
The first place winner in PUBG Mobile will receive $7,000 followed by $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 for the other winners.
Meanwhile, $5,000 is up for grabs for first place in Fifa20, with $3,000 for second place and $2,000 for third place, while the Bahrain National team players can win $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place in their special Fifa20 tournament.
For more details about the tournament and live stream links follow @khkesports on Instagram.