DOTA has been the addiction to many youths in this millennial generation for more than a decade now.
But instead of pushing them to the underground, it has emerged as perhaps the first electronic game considered as an Olympic sport and it has been among the medals at stake in the recently-concluded Asian Games held in Indonesia.
Before its inclusion to the Asiad, Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan was the first to accept the millennial sport even making it a staple in this year’s XU Intramurals, which officially opens on Saturday.
This will be its third-straight year since its inclusion along with dart competition.
The Dota event had been dominated by the College of Engineering for two years in a row, making them a favorite for a grand slam finish this year.
“Why push them to the underground when we can pull them up as long as they value academics,” said Vincent Padilla, XU’s athletic director.
XU Athletics stood to its principle “Ignatian” spirit in the complete wholeness of mind, body and spirit.
Aside from its fresh feature, 3-on-3 basketball will be a new addition this year.
Altogether, there are 20 sporting events to be contested which include athletics, badminton, basketball, cheerdance, chess, dance sport, game of the generals, karatedo, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, ultimate Frisbee and volleyball.
This year’s intramurals had started with its preliminary games in basketball two weeks ago.
The College of Medicine lady Meds of Cheska Ilogon started hot with two straight wins: a 31-28 squeaker against the Education department and a 27-24 thriller opposite the Arts and Sciences.