Malaysian team of seniors wins Counter-Strike 2 e-sports contest in Singapore

SINGAPORE – In a dramatic moment at Asia’s first live senior e-sports tournament in Singapore, 52-year-old Nahar Johari defied the odds and wiped out three opposing players single-handedly, securing a crucial win for Malaysia against Japan.

The final match of Silver Showdown 2026, held on Nov 14 at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, brought together senior Counter-Strike 2 players from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Chinese Taipei in a historic regional clash.

Counter-Strike 2 is a first-person shooter game pitting two teams of five players against each other, where one team comprises terrorists and the other, counter-terrorists. Gameplay requires tight coordination and management of weapons, utility and maps.

Organised by the Singapore Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), Esports Academy and social service agency Lions Befrienders, Silver Showdown started in 2025 as a national competition.

It invited overseas players for the first time this year, and comes amid rising support for senior citizens in e-sports. Eligible players must be aged 50 or above.

“Bringing these teams together in person shows how quickly senior e-sports is growing across Asia, and that active ageing can look very different from what we are used to,” said SCOGA president Dennis Ooi.

Malaysia’s senior winning team, Old Guards, comprises three men and two women: Jon Yap, 64, Johan Sopiee, 57, Johari, 52, Linda Tee, 58, and Trish Lim, 57.

The Singaporean players, aged 50 to 77, placed third in the contest. They were selected through a domestic competition held on Nov 13.

Singapore team Golden Aces’ leader Philip Tang, 71, said his team had competed in international competitions with countries such as Finland but the games were played online. However, Silver Showdown gathered players physically in Singapore, allowing for more bonding.

“Here, we can interact and get to know them as well. It is a good experience to compete and continue to play more comfortably with each other,” he said.

The Malaysian team consisted of members who started gaming through the 2024 reality show Boomers2Gamers, which saw 298 applicants aged older than 50 fighting for a spot on Malaysia’s first official senior e-sports team.

The gamers from Chinese Taipei were fielded by the Chinese Taipei Esports Association with Cheng Shiu University. They have about three months of experience with Counter-Strike 2.

The Japan team is backed by the Japan Esports Union’s Akita branch. Most of the players began playing Counter-Strike 2 in September or October this year.

Yuko Yamamoto, 75, from Japan and Malaysia’s Johari played remotely because they could not travel for health reasons.

Most of the Singapore players at Silver Showdown 2026 honed their skills through independent national programmes.

These include the OCBC-Lions Befrienders Senior E-sports Programme, launched in June by OCBC and Lions Befrienders to provide 2,400 e-sports coaching sessions for 200 seniors in gaming facilities in Bishan, Pasir Ris and Jurong West. OCBC committed $100,000 in funding and 800 bank volunteers, while SCOGA supplied the coaches.

NTUC Health also introduced e-sports through Nintendo games across its active ageing centres and organised gaming competitions during its inaugural Active Ageing Centre Day on Oct 1, 2025.

Calling for more partners to support Silver Showdown, Ooi said SCOGA hopes to organise more senior e-sports competitions, .

Senior e-sports competitions have also been taking place all across the world. In June 2019, the first Senior Counter-Strike World Cup was held in Sweden. Four teams from Sweden, Finland, Germany and the US took part.

Since 2023, the International Senior League has run Counter-Strike 2 competitions online for players aged 50 and above, with teams from Ukraine, Sweden and Malaysia taking part, among others.

Japanese non-profit Care Esports has been hosting competitive gaming tournaments twice a year since 2019 for senior citizens living in nursing homes. Hisako Sakai, 92, recently made headlines for winning Care Esports’ 12th tournament in 2025, which featured the fighting game Tekken 8.

The fighting game Street Fighter 6 has already been included in this year’s local edition of Silver Showdown. SCOGA is exploring including more titles such as Valorant.