Home|Sports|Lucius advances to the next roundSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailAugust 29, 2023 18 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Bahamian Jonathon Lucius experienced his first action in the International Esports Federation’s World Championship in Iasi, Romania, on Saturday. He was able to battle his way out of the first round of Tekken 7.
It is a huge improvement for the 25-year-old after being knocked out of the first round of last year’s world championship. He is being accompanied by Tyler Gordon, vice president of tournaments and events for the Bahamas Esports Federation (BESF).
“I feel really good that I made it to the next round. There were a few close calls, but I was confident in making it through. This year, I focused on playing more defensive instead due to a lot of the aggressive players in the tournament,” Lucius said.
The Bahamian went up against players from Norway, Iraq, Vietnam and Greece in best-of-three first round matches. Lucius opened the round with a 2-1 victory over the player from Norway before easily taking care of the player from Iraq 2-0. He was looking forward to playing against the player from Vietnam, and in the end he lost 2-1. His final match on Saturday was against the player from Greece, and it did not end in his favor as he lost 2-1.
In the end, he scored six points and finished in the number three spot to move on to the next round, the first round of playoffs, which is set for September 1.
“My most challenging match thus far was against Greece,” Lucius said. “It was a close back and forth, but at the end, he came victorious beating me 2-1 in the group, snagging first. I enjoyed the match with Iraq because it was a matchup I normally lose. Thankfully, I won the match 2-0 with a bizarre finish with a double KO which concluded with me winning the match.”
Lucius used yesterday as a rest day. His next opponent is not known as yet, but he has an idea who it will be and he is prepared for that match.
“From my predictions I believe I may face Madagascar, but as of right now, it’s up in the air until the playoff bracket is fully finalized. I will look to just practice and train over the next few days. My next opponent is a strong player who shocked the tournament with his performance,” Lucius said.
The tournament got underway on Thursday, August 24 and will wrap up on September 4. The opening ceremony was on Saturday.