Korean players first in world cyber games
Published: 24 Oct. 2006, 20:08
The event was held over five days during which about 700 players from around the world gathered to “battle” for cash and prizes worth $462,000. The finalists had been selected through national championships that took place between March and September of this year. The tournament took place at the famous Formula 1 racing circuit ― the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza ― and kicked off with a huge concert and opening ceremony featuring the entrance of the participating countries.
“This is an occasion for promoting harmony and mutual respect among all participants, as well as the countries they represent,” said Yun Jong-yong, co-chairman of the World Cyber Games Committee and the vice chairman and chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co., the major sponsor for the event.
The tournament consisted of six PC games and two console games. The PC games were FIFA Soccer 2006, Half-Life: Counter-Strike 1.6, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, StarCraft: Brood War, WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne and Dawn of War: Winter Assault.
The console games available were both for the Xbox360, the two titles Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3.
Most of the medals won by Korean teams came in the StarCraft: Brood War competition, where Korean players stole the show. Choi Yeon-sung, a member of SK Telecom’s T1 earned the first gold medal by beating Park Sung-jun of MBC Game’s Hero two to one. Jeon Sang-wook, another T1 player, won the bronze medal, winning over a Chinese player. The three players stood on stage to receive their medals and waved a huge Taegukgi, the Korean flag.
Korea’s fourth medal ― also a gold― was won by Ryu Kyung-hyun in Dawn of War.
Russia just missed coming in first in the grand finale, with three medals under their players’ belts. Enileeve and Nikolay Frontov won the top two medals in the Need for Speed tournament, followed by Victor Gusev, who won a bronze in FIFA 2006.
The third-placed team was Germany, with two golds in FIFA 2006 and one bronze in Dawn of War.
Next year, the World Cyber Games will go to the drizzly city of Seattle, Washington. It will be the second time the event has been held in the United States; in 2004, San Francisco was the first U.S. city to host the event. This year’s World Cyber Games was the 6th WCG event.
by Wohn Dong-hee
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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