Top e-sports players allowed to leave country after Ti intervenes
Two top e-sports players have finally gained permission to travel abroad for a major tournament in Romania on Oct 7 after Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ti Lian Ker intervened in the matter.
Cheng Jin Xiang and Chan Chon Kien departed for Bucharest this morning to join their respective teams.
Ti told Malaysiakini the duo obtained their...
Two top e-sports players have finally gained permission to travel abroad for a major tournament in Romania on Oct 7 after Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ti Lian Ker intervened in the matter.
Cheng Jin Xiang and Chan Chon Kien departed for Bucharest this morning to join their respective teams.
Ti told Malaysiakini that the duo had obtained their My Travel Pass (MTP) documentation, a special exemption required to leave the country under the Covid-19 lockdown.
The duo's predicament had made waves in the e-sports industry, prompting the Youth and Sports Ministry to step in.
Ti also met with them to convey his well-wishes before their flight.
The deputy minister had requested immigration authorities to expedite Cheng and Chan's MTP applications.
"This is e-sports which is quite new to them (Immigration Department). Perhaps they did not understand their needs and the urgency of the matter.
"They are potential winners of a prestigious tournament. Malaysia should support them," he added.
Ti said the Immigration Department normally takes 14 days to process MTP applications but the players needed to join their teams in Bucharest as soon as possible for the final practice before The International 10 tournament.
Teams battle it out for huge prize
The International 10 is an e-sports event where two teams of five members battle it out in the Dota 2 game.
The tournament offers the world's largest prize pool for an e-sports game.
This year's tournament will see a prize pool of US$40,018,195 (RM166 million), more than ten times the cash prize for the Tour de France 2021, the annual multiple-stage bicycle race.
Cheng, 20, better known as NothingToSay in the e-sports circle, is a professional Dota 2 player and a member of the e-sports organisation PSG.LGD.
PSG.LDG is co-owned by the Paris Saint-Germain football club, which is involved in both the physical sports and e-sports scene.
Paris Saint-Germain is one of the richest football clubs in the world, which recently signed football star Lionel Messi.
Meanwhile, Chan, 25, popularly known as Oli in the e-sports community, is a member of the Invictus Gaming team.
Four Malaysian e-sports athletes will be participating in The International 10 which will run from Oct 7 to 10.
Apart from Cheng and Chan, the other two are Thiay "JT" Jun Wen, who is Chan's teammate and Ng "ChYuan" Kee Chyuan, who plays for team Fnatic.
According to Ti, Ng and Thiay arrived in Romania much earlier and therefore did not face the same predicament as Cheng and Chan.
On Sept 13, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) pro tem treasurer Tarmizi Anuwar urged the government to intervene and help Cheng and Chan.
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