GIFT NDOLWANE
JOHANNESBURG – AS the year continues with its march forward, players are frantically scrambling for places in Mind Sports South Africa’s MSSA’s national team trials.

The battle was intense recently as the Tuks Mind Sports hosted the 33rd Gauteng Championships, the third last championship in which players may qualify for such trials.

“For those teams that have qualified, the work has begun in earnest in order to hone their skills for trials, while some players are still desperately trying to qualify,” says Colin Webster, General Secretary of MSSA.

The championship in Pretoria attracted players from the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumulanga and North West.

They battled it out to earn the various titles of Gauteng Champion Champion, and the right to fight for a place in the 2016 national team trials that will ultimately deliver a team to the eighth International e-Sports Federation 2016 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia in October.

The championship delivered a number of surprises, most notably in the League of Legends, DotA 2, FIFA’16 and Street Fighter V titles.

In League of Legends, White Rabbit Gaming team maintained its winning ways, smashing their opposition to win all their games.

Tuks Mind Sports Club dominated DotA 2.

Leonard Loftus prevailed in Street Fighter V while Xola Magwaza marked his return after a six-year absence by claiming FIFA’16.