Yeik progresses from playing Tetris to Dota 2 professional
IPOH: Starting with playing Tetris video game which is a tile matching puzzle when he was four, Yeik Nai Zheng, 23, or better known as MidOne in the esports cyber world, became a Dota 2 professional four years ago.
“When I was 13, I participated in a tournament at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang with some friends. At that time, it was difficult travelling back and forth with my friends to join the competition.
“The prize was worth RM1 million, unfortunately we lost and I felt very down at that time. But I did not give up and after I graduated from high school I approached other players and it was at that time I got spotted and began playing at international level,” he said and added that he was 19 years old and was still a student at Universiti Multimedia Melaka.
He was speaking at a media conference of the Esport Professional Industry Conference (EPIC) 2019 at the Meru Convention Centre here yesterday.
Commenting further, Yeik said at one time he felt like giving up but he remained perseverant and eventually scored success to his present level.
“At one point, I felt I cannot do it anymore and wanted to give up because at that time, I lost in virtually all tournaments, but I did not give up. I found good teammates and grabbed the opportunities to be what I am today,” he said.
He said his parents were dead against him taking up cyber sports but he somehow managed to find time to play and divided time to study during the day and playing cyber games at night.
“When I was young, I was living with my grandmother in Bagan Serai, I continued playing but faced strong opposition from my parents,” he said.
Yesterday, Yeik was appointed as Perak Esports Icon for 2019 by the state government as announced by Perak Youth and Sports Development Committee chairman Howard Lee Chuan How at the EPIC 2019.
Based on the MYGAMEON site which lists leading esports players, Yeik is ranked as one of the top Dota 2 players in the world with competition earnings of about RM4.16 million.
Earlier, Yeik played for a Malaysian team Fnatic before joining Secret, a European esports organisation.