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Arnold Kipngetich from Kericho is the new FIFA 19 Champion of the Rift Region BLAZE By Safaricom E-Sports tournament which was held at the Eldoret National Polytechnic.

The tournament, which is a new additional platform to the BLAZE Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) platform, seeks to empower youth to regard E-Sport as a career. The Rift region tournament attracted young gamers from as far as Kericho, Bomet, Nandi and Tran Nzoia Counties.

“I am excited for winning this E-sports tournament organized by BLAZE. With this win, I now have the confidence to compete in more tournaments and possibly take part in global competitions,” said the 25 years old Kipngetich.

The tournament, which marked the culmination of 2019 Rift region BLAZE engagements, saw Fahim Kibet from Kericho and Moses Violu from Kitale settling for the second and third positions respectively. The Ksh. 100,000 Prize Pool saw the top 3 taking home Ksh. 50,000, Ksh. 30,000 and Ksh. 20,000 respectively.

The Rift region tournament becomes the second BLAZE By Safaricom E-Sports regional tourney since its launch in August 2019. The first one was held in Coast region in Mombasa where 20-year old Fahad Ali from Mariakani won first place.

BLAZE by Safaricom launched the e-sports tournament in partnership with Pro Series Gaming (PSG) and Standard Group, for youth aged between 18 and 26 who are looking at gaming as a career choice. The e-sports tournament will consist of FIFA 19 and Tekken 7 knockouts running on Play Station 4 and will be broken down into 10 grassroots knockouts and 5 regional finals. At least 64 players will enter at each knockout round, which will happen the week of every BLAZE BYOB Summit.

BLAZE is a sub-brand of Safaricom and was created to give youth aged 26 years and below products, services and benefits tailored specifically to meet their everyday needs.