In a free-to-air television first, SBS 2 will broadcast the Australian eSports Championship Qualifiers.

The event in Sydney sees two Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams in Australia – SYF Gaming and Athletico – compete against each other.

Winners will go on to represent Australia against 35 other nations at the eSports World Championships, in Indonesia in October.

The event will be hosted by the Australian eSports League’s Maddie Searle, Danny Kim and Australian eSports Association (AESA) president Darren Kwan, which will see Australia’s top two Counter Strike: Global offensive teams, SYF Gaming and Athletico, engage in a best-of-three series battle to determine who will represent Australia in October at the 2016 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The winning Australian team will compete against 35 nations in three titles, over a three day gaming spectacular. Last year’s Grand Final in Seoul, South Korea attracted 250 participants from 33 countries and more than 40,000 spectators in a stadium sell-out spectacular.

The mental agility and reflexes of competitive gamers are enough to rival conventional athletes, with gamers producing the same amount of cortisol as professional race car drivers and pulses soaring as high as 180 beats per minute, the same as marathon runners. Competitors are even drug tested for performance enhancers like Adderall.

The Grand Final’s free-to-air broadcast from Sydney will be an Australian first that will undoubtedly add to the 150 million worldwide eSport viewers.

Friday, 2 September at 9.25pm on SBS 2.

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