Another Filipino qualifies for Tekken Esports World Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Tekken star Andreij “Doujin” Albar is heading to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the upcoming Tekken 8 event in the Esports World Cup (EWC) after scoring a podium finish in the 2024 CEO Fighting Game Championship.

Albar previously represented the country in the World Esports Championship organized by the International Esports Federation, winning the Tekken event in 2017. In 2019, he won the bronze medal during the 30th Southeast Asian Games, wherein esports made its debut as a medal event.

Now signed with Blacklist International, Albar previously failed to qualify for the EWC after falling in the loser's bracket of the DreamHack Dallas 2024 last month and would need at least a top two finish in CEO 2024 to secure his spot in Riyadh.

Albar went undefeated in the Pools, defeating the likes of ZETA's Takakubo "Double" Shoji and Team Liquid's Marquis "Shadow_20z" Jordan, and Varrel's Akihiro "Ao" Abe to make it to the top three players of the tournament.

Albar saw defeat at the hands of Japanese player Takaba Keisuke to finish the tournament at third place but with Keisuke already qualified to the EWC, the qualification spot was awarded to the bronze finisher Albar, who also secures 300 points for the Tekken World Tour leaderboard.

Albar thus joins fellow Filipino Tekken player Alexandre "AK" Laverez, now part of the esports organization, NAVI, in the upcoming Tekken 8 event at the Esports World Cup happening in August.