As of Thursday, August 24, 2023
JOHNATHON Lucius
#By TENAJH SWEETING
#Tribune Sports Reporter
#tsweeting@tribunemedia.net
#JOHNATHON Lucius will represent The Bahamas for the second time at the International Esports Federation’s (IESF) World Esports Championship.
#The event is slated to begin today and continue until September 4 in Romania. The Bahamas continues to push the mark in traditional and nontraditional sports, proving to be a dominant small nation.
#The 2022 national Tekken champion won the qualifiers and represented the country in Bali, Indonesia, last year.
#Lucius said he felt excited to compete for the second consecutive year at the IESF World Esports Championship. The Tekken 7 player talked about his first introduction to the sport at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).
#“It all started when I was in college at BTVI studying IT, there was a gaming club at school which showed and taught some of us what Esports was. I first started out trying different games because I didn’t know better at first but as soon as I got in the fighting genre for Esports, something clicked,” he said.
#Lucius is quite familiar with the Tekken series because it was a game he played a lot growing up. A childhood game led to him placing fourth out of five players in Group E last year.
#He will compete in Group M this time around against Norway, Iraq and Greece. The competition will begin for him at 7am on Friday against Norway. On the same day, he will also play Iraq at 7:40am and last will be Vietnam at 10am.
#The 2022 national Tekken champion’s expectations are to simply remain focused on his competitors in Group M.
#“My expectations for right now is to focus on the group stage that I am currently in right now, and then as I pass each stage or challenge, I would lean more into that,” he said.
#Although Esports is a relatively unorthodox concept to some, Lucius had words of encouragement for those passionate about gaming.
#“I would say to everyone that gaming is becoming the next big thing globally in this era now. When I started it was more of a niché market but now to see it thrive today I would say to any person passionate in games such as Fortnite, Apex, to give it a chance or to attend an Esports event, it will really amaze you,” he added.
#With this upcoming competition at the forefront of his mind, Lucius also has his sights set on the Evolution Championship Series 2024 in Tokoyo, Japan.