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RIYADH: The Saudi Esports Federation hosted the fifth SEF Awards, featuring 19 eSport categories, at the SEF Arena at Boulevard Riyadh City on Friday night.

It was “a celebration of excellence, achievement and vision,” Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, the organization’s chairman, said at the gala event.

Faisal bin Homran, chief product officer at the Esports World Cup, reflected on the Kingdom’s endeavors in the gaming sector.

“Honestly, in the past few years, the progress of the industry is changing dramatically, especially with the Kingdom doing solid moves toward it, especially with changing the sector when it comes to projects like the Esports World Cup.”

“I think Saudi is now shaping the industry toward something sustainable for the industry overall and for any lover of eSports, specific games, audience, players (and) clubs.

Bin Homran told Arab News that he believed eSports would lead the field globally.

“Personally, (I think) it will be the number one sports in the world,” he said. “Overall, I think the future is amazing. There’s a lot of projects coming in. I’m really happy. I’m a passionate gamer myself and I’m living the dream.”

Saudi player Raef Alturkistani won the award for “best fighting game player,” taking the prize for the second consecutive year, and retaining the world title for a third year for his performance at the Tekken World Tour Finals.

“I am grateful for this,” he said. “I want to do my best next time so I can win it (best fighting game player) for the third time, hopefully … This year was the hardest year for me because I had so many competitors with me, in the same game and different games. But I achieved it ... going third in the world.”

Team Falcons of Saudi Arabia, also known as the first Esports World Cup club champions, took home the title for “best club.”

Musaad Al-Dossary, CEO of Falcons, said that the future of eSports in the Kingdom was promising.

“It’s rewarding, what we have achieved, the nights that we have been working, and sometimes it’s a hectic night, so nights like this (are for) rewards of what we have accomplished … We have been honored to have, the Esports World Cup here, thankfully we have won it and obviously looking to do more. I’m sure that everyone here in Saudi wants to do more and more.”

Rawan Al-Butairi, chief partnerships and corporate affairs at the Saudi Esports Federation, highlighted the success of the Kingdom’s national gaming strategy.

“Saudi Arabia has a national gaming strategy, eSports strategy, and other potential and impact ... It is Bollywood and Hollywood combined. So it is absolutely large in size and grasping such opportunity to amplify the impact through the players, through the content creators and through the community by creating an event like this will help us grow it substantially in the Kingdom to inspire the world.”

Adel Almeqeren, executive director of marketing and branding at the Saudi Esports Federation, said that this year it would establish a women’s eLeague.

“A lot of players, have both male and female play in the Saudi eLeague, but the challenge is that sometimes they can’t compete with each other. So by us doing that and segregating, in a good way, the women’s league, it gives them more light and it gives them more awareness to the public.”

Award categories included best rising player; best rising talent; best female player, presented by Hilton; best club, presented by Richy; best content creator, presented by SAIB; and best roster, presented by Golden Scent.

The winners of the 19 categories in this year’s SEF Awards are:

1. Best female talent: Ghala Al-Qahtani

2. Best host: Wajeh Fahad

3. Best rising player: Abdulaziz Altamimi

4. Best rising club: Al-Qadsiah

5. Best eSports media coverage: Sama News

6. Best female player: Mohdi Alkanhal

7. Best roster: Team Falcons — Rocket League

8. Best coach: Abdulrahman bin Fayez

9. Best rising talent: Saleh Alrakaf

10. Best FPS games player: Ibrahim Alali

11. Best fighting game player: Raef Alturkistani

12. Best battle royale player: Khalid Alomar

13. Best MOBA game player: Orifan Alsulaimany

14. Best sports player: Mohammed Alotaibi

15. Best club: Team Falcons

16. Best caster: Abdulaziz Almehmadi

17. Best analyst: Fahad Ghzwani

18. Best content creator: Saleh Alzahrani

19. Best streamer: Mufrih Assiri