Di “Friki” Lhong took the top spot with a quick and impressive performance Cape Town Showdown 7 without dropping a single series.
For the Grand Finals, Friki took on Farouk “DAXPT” Suleman, a local favorite who has a penchant for playing Jin.
Despite an earlier loss to Friki in the Winner’s Finals, DAXPT came out strong in the beginning. The South African player was able to draw first blood and take two rounds in the first game.
However, Friki tied it up later with a few floor breaks and low sweeps that kept the Jin player from closing out the game.
On the lowest floor of the stage, Friki kept up his pressure with quick jab combos, leaving his opponent with no room to initiate a combo. With an incredible read on Jin’s low, Friki punished and took the first game from DAXPT.
With the second game taking place in Violet Systems, DAXPT only had to worry about Friki’s wall-carry. Although game two was a slower-paced fight, DAXPT took out his Electric Wind God Fist and was able to tie up the scoreboard with a low sweep.
With DAXPT catching up to his moves with Anna, the Thai national switched to an even more mix-up-heavy character, Eddy Gordo. With the Capoeira specialist, Friki focused on mobility and caught out DAXPT with a sidestep combo.
With DAXPT trying to be more aggressive, Friki saw the opportunity to bring out Eddy’s signature lows. With the last round of
By game four, Friki was still the more defiant closer between the two. Even with DAXPT bringing out his best combos, Friki was able to duck his Rage Art and finish him off in the first round.
The second round was no different. Friki caught DAXPT with a hop kick combo and had his opponent’s back against the wall. With no way out, the Thai player brought out his signature mix-ups to earn himself a perfect round.
Although Friki was just one round away from a championship, DAXPT still had some fight left in him. In a desperate attempt to deal some damage, DAXPT initiated two successful throws, bringing the Eddy player to a sliver of life left. DAXPT then proceeded with a spinning flare kick as his finishing move.
For the last round, Friki asserted his dominance with a solid launcher and a follow-up Rodeo grab. Although DAXPT successfully initiated a grab right after, Friki courageously slid in for one more low hit, finishing his opponent off and becoming the champion of Cape Town Showdown.
With his Challenger event win, Friki goes home with 150 Tekken points and US$500, now ranking at #67 on the world leaderboard. Runner-up DAXPT takes 100TP and US$
The next Tekken World Tour event will be Kumite in Texas 2019, taking place at Arlington, Texas, from September 13-15.
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