RIYADH — The first Elite-level tournament of $10million COVID-19 esports fundraiser Gamers Without Borders saw the International Medical Corps (IMC) gifted almost half of the opening series’ $1.5million prize fund as the global gaming event burst into action. The winning teams from GWB’s Europe, CIS & MENA and South Asia mobile gaming tournaments both donated their $250,000 winnings to the organization, who will use the funds to continue to provide essential coronavirus expertise, protective equipment, training, and treatment services for vulnerable communities across the globe. Furthermore, the IMC was given an additional $50,000 from high-ranking teams who also chose to benefit the charity with their winnings, while the remaining $762,500 prize fund was shared between Direct Relief, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance and ITU, all of whom are leading the global battle against coronavirus. Gamers Without Borders’ opening tournaments guaranteed high-drama and delivered on that to the last, with only a single point splitting the series’ top two South Asian teams after four days of thrilling gaming action. Eventually, it was India’s Team Godlike who came out on top – their four crucial wins in 12 games giving them enough to see off Team TSM-ENTITY, who missed out on first place despite outperforming their countrymen in kill points 83 to 67. Third and fourth place went to Marcos Gaming and UMExRxN – both also from India – after terrific comebacks in the tournament’s latter stages, earning their chosen charities $125,000 and $75,000 respectively. That edge-of-the-seat action followed two days of battle in the Europe, CIS & MENA mobile gaming division, where Team 1218 ran out convincing winners after topping the leaderboard at both the half-way and end points of the competition. The Russian outfit finished ahead of The Real Deal (Europe-wide) and FUTBOLIST (Turkey) after a sensational 11-kill display in the 12-match tournament’s final battle, led by an MVP performance by star-man Bandita77. Speaking after donating their $250,000 winnings to the International Medical Corps, Bandita77 said: “We are very happy to help the situation we have in the world now. The special thing about our win is that we can help the world with this problem. We were fighting every second until the end to win this and we are really glad to donate $250 000. “We've chosen this charity — the International Medical Corps — because we would like to be a part of their fight with the coronavirus. It has a big influence on our lives, all people's lives. People are sick, they die from it and we think that these funds will help to fight the virus.” Gamers Without Borders next International Elite tournament takes place this weekend, and fans can tune in to the opening games by visiting www.watch.gamerswithoutborders.com where full broadcast information and talent will be announced and updated regularly. — SG