Counterstrike is one of the most popular computer games in Sri Lanka today. Game cafes have been filled with Counterstrike players both young and old, battling it out for countless hours to rack up the “frags” and satisfy their competitive streaks.
The Counterstrike community in Sri Lanka reached a critical mass sometime late last year, after which Counterstrike ceased to be just a game - it evolved into a sport; an e-sport. This saw the development of infrastructure to support game servers, organised pro-teams and competitive leagues. Season 2 of the premier online Counterstrike tournament came to a close on February 28, 2009 and is called ‘Gamer.LK Clans Counterstrike League’ more fondly known as GCCL.
GCCL is organised by the Sri Lankan e-sports community Gamer.LK (http://gamer.lk), best known for the Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2008 LAN gaming tournament which was held in August of last year. GCCL is an online Counterstrike tournament where the best clans of the country battle it out for the coveted title of GCCL Champion every season. Season 2 was held during the month of February 2009 with over 30 clans taking part. Matches were held throughout the month of February, with the grand finals being concluded on Saturday February, 28, with a scortcher of a match between two Counterstrike giants.
There was no doubt that Counterstrike has become a spectator sport after witnessing the epic battle between Ferrari and Determinato for the GCCL crown. The finals was covered by International e-Sports commentators “GameStah” radio and also streamed live on HLTV for an eager crowd of fans cheering for their favorites. After two hours of play on two Counterstrike maps, Ferrari came out victorious.
Team Ferrari consists of Dulantha (intdr), Amri (Crusade), Shehan (Zanzio), Michael (VP), Wassim (Fahbio) and Isham (Codename). Dulantha and Amri were in Team Liquid that was chosen to represent Sri Lanka in last years World Cyber Games e-sports tournament.
Determinato consists of Dilshan (azian), Nithin (Dark-Youth), Safran (Spawn), Charaka (1c3), Roshan (Mombu$) and Thilina (xTaz). This is a fairly new team to the Sri Lankan Counterstrike scene. They are trained by Lankan born Pubudu (zkhR) who plays Counterstrike competitively in the United States. The match between Ferrari and Determinato was a fitting end to a month of good, competitive Counterstrike. For replays, commentary and to get involved in GCCL, visit http://gccl.gamer.lk.
GCCL Season 2 results are as follows:
- Group Stage Winners:
Group A: Ferrari and Reservior Dogz
Group B: Determinato and One Blood
- Semi Finals:
Semi 1: Ferrari vs One Blood - Ferrari wins.
Semi 2: Determinato vs Reservior Dogz - Determinato wins.
- Third place playoff:
One Blood vs Reservior Dogz: One Blood wins.
- Grand Finals:
Ferrari vs Determinato
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