(New York, NY November 18, 2009) – With three overall medals, TEAM USA placed eighth at the World Cyber Games 2009 Grand Final in Chengdu, China. As over 82,000 spectators from around the globe cheered and watched the excitement, TEAM USA took silver and bronze medals in Guitar Hero®: World Tour while taking the bronze in Red Stone. The US also took bronze in the mobile game WiseStar2, which did not count towards the overall medal tally. Korea captured its second title in a row while host China placed in a three-way tie for fourth with two medals. Sweden finished a best-ever second place while Germany rounded out the top three.
Guitar Hero®: World Tour was a highlight event for TEAM USA as Michael Najman (Little Neck, NY) and Robert Michaels (Waynesboro, VA) took two out of three medals in the competition. Najman and Michaels rolled through group play and several single-elimination rounds. In the Final Four, Najman defeated Federico Beeche of Costa Rica to make it to the championship while Michaels lost to the eventual champion from Brazil. In the championship match, Najman lost the first song only to battle back and win the second. In the final, and deciding song, he failed to pull out a come-from-behind victory and walked away with the silver medal. Meanwhile, Michaels rebounded in the third-place match to defeat Beeche. Additionally, Team Cool_Runnings – comprised of Jonathon Lunceford (Birmingham Alabama), Matt Marcou (Madison Wisconsin), Sean Snack (Cleveland, Ohio) and Colin Fogle (Indianapolis, Indiana) – took the bronze medal in Red Stone losing to Japan and the gold medal Korea team. In WiseStar2, Jersey native Trevor Housten (Branchburg, NJ) took home the bronze medal in the international mobile hit.
“The best 600 players representing 65 countries showed the tens of thousands of fans how supremely exciting eSports is and why it has seen growth in the past few years,” said Hyoung-seok Kim, CEO of World Cyber Games Inc., the global organizer of the World Cyber Games. “China proved to host the biggest and best Grand Final to date and the competitors from each country showed the competitive spirit that exemplifies the WCG.”
The end of competition was marked by a carnival of celebration that involved the fans, sponsors and players from the Grand Final. Capping off the four-day festival of competition, Mr. Fu Yonglin, the Vice Mayor of Chengdu City, passed the ceremonial WCG Flag to Los Angeles, which will play host to the WCG Grand Final in 2010. Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the World Cyber Games as the Grand Final returns to US soil for the third time. TEAM USA has had great success on its home turf, finishing first in 2007 in Seattle and third in 2004 in San Francisco.
For results of all members of TEAM USA, see below:
PC
Red Stone – Captured bronze medal (see above)
Team Cool_Runnings
Jonathon Lunceford (Birmingham, Alabama)
Matt Marcou (Madison, Wisconsin)
Sean Snack (Cleveland, Ohio)
Colin Fogle (Indianapolis, Indiana)
StarCraft®: Brood War™
Greg Fields (Randolph, NJ) – Lost in the Elite 8 to Germany
David Fells (Port Neches, TX) – Went 2-5 to be eliminated in group play
WarCraft® III: The Frozen Throne™
Phil Crawford (Poughkeepsie, NY) – Advanced to Sweet 16 with a record of 3-2 only to be defeated by the heavily favored Korea player
CounterStrike™ 1.6 – Both US teams made it to the Sweet 16 and were defeated by France and Denmark
Team Evil Genius
Daniel Montaner (Miami, FL)
Matt Dickens (Deer Park, TX)
Travis Bechtol (Garland, TX)
Jordan Gilbert (San Diego, CA)
Tyler Wood (Little Rock, AR)
Team Turmoil
Ediz Basol (Manhattan Beach, CA)
Scott Cavallero (Ocala, FL)
Dan Mehler (New Brunswick, NJ)
Ben Hui (San Francisco, CA)
Derrick Truong (Los Angeles, CA)
FIFA Soccer 09™
Michael LaBelle (Houston, TX) – Went 2-3-2 in group play, failing to make single elimination rounds
Carom 3D
Patrick Wyrick (Aliso Viejo, CA) – Advanced to Final Four where he was defeated by silver medal Brazil and bronze medal Germany
Zach Wolters (Jenison, MI) – Went 3-2 in group play, failing to make single elimination rounds
Xbox 360 Games
Guitar Hero®: World Tour
Michael Najman (Little Neck, NY) – Captured silver medal (see above)
Robert Michaels (Waynesboro, VA) – Captured bronze medal (see above)
Virtua Fighter® 5
Eddel Dioquino (Alexandria, VA) – Went 2-3 in group play, failing to make single elimination rounds
Mobile
WiseStar2
Trevor Housten (Branchburg, NJ) – Captured bronze medal (see above)
Asphalt™ 4: Elite Racing
Kamran Siddiqui (Orlando, FL) – Went 3-4 in group play, failing to make singe elimination rounds
For more information about the WCG 2009 Grand Final and images from the spectacular event, go to www.wcg.com/usa.
