PBA Players to Participate in DOTA 2 Tournament to Raise Funds to Help in COVID-19 Fight

The growth of Esports has been taken to a whole new level after the entire Luzon island has been placed under community quarantine to prevent the furthermore spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The fact that most of the big names from the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Formula One have been participating in various Esports tournaments ever since the said disease forced their respective governing bodies to postponed the real thing indefinitely. Fortunately, games nowadays are so realistic that it will make players feel as if they're playing an actual NBA game or racing in an actual Formula One race.

And that trend of athletes turning to Esports has continued with our local athletes. The only difference is: Marc Pingris, June Mar Fajardo, and some of the big stars in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is playing Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2)- an online battle arena video game which allows you to compete against other players from virtually any part of the planet. And this time, Pingris and Fajardo- famously known as the "DOTA Boys" will be competing for a cause bigger than winning a PBA championship.

Through their Facebook post, MineskiTV announced that it will be holding a DOTA 2 matches as part of their MIneski Esports Lockdown which will happen beginning April 6 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. According to the post, the matches can be viewed by gamers in real-time as it will be streamed.  And aside from the duo of Fajardo and Pingris, other big names from the PBA  will be joining like Japeth Aguilar, Kiefer Ravena, and others. 

Aside from seeing PBA stars go head-to-head in DOTA 2, the main purpose of the matches is to raise funds for the University of the Philippines (UP) Medical Foundation Inc. in their fight against COVID-19. And DOTA 2 isn't the lone online game from which Pingris and company are going to be competing in for a bigger cause. In his Instagram post, Pingris announced that they will also be playing Marvel Super War, and Call of Duty (Mobile). 

If anything, Luzon being placed in community quarantine proved that Esports in the Philippines has been booming as evident by the success of SIBOL- our national team in Esports that dominated the Esports in last year's Southeast Asian Games. In fact, Pingris even joked that he and Fajardo should "try out" for SIBOL after their PBA careers. And frankly, that is not impossible considering the initiation of Pingris to compete in Esports for the greater good. 

Photo is from ABS CBN Sports