Image credit: British Esports
UK Street Fighter player Kim-Philippe “The4Philzz” Badiabio secured a second-place finish for Great Britain at the Global Esports Games in Istanbul earlier this month.
The4Philzz went on a superb run in the playoffs with a 12-0 winning streak to reach the grand final against Chinese Taipei’s GamerBee – a repeat of last year’s final.
GamerBee won the final 3-1 to secure gold, while The4Philzz claimed silver. GhostChips of New Zealand took the bronze medal.
Great Britain also had their Dota 2 women’s team and eFootball player xBigStuff in Istanbul for the LAN finals, with the former reaching the quarter finals and the latter reaching the top 16.
Team Great Britain reached the finals of the Global Esports Games 2022 last month.
The Global Esports Games (GEG) are a nations-based tournament series organised by the Global Esports Federation.
The4Philzz said: “When it comes to the social aspect, GEG 2022 was one of my favourite events to date. I am happy to have performed as well as I did while representing Great Britain this year, and second place is still a great result.
“I feel like the Global Esports Games are still a growing event, and given time and feedback, it will keep getting better throughout the years.”
The4Philzz, Great Britain
He added on Twitter: “I want to say thank you so much to all the people who showed me love so far during my time in Istanbul.
“The amount of love and support from so many people was my favourite part of the event.”
The4Philzz is one of several talented Street Fighter players based in the UK, with our region producing some great players over the years.
The Great Britain esports teams were put together by the British Esports Federation, with Mark Weller on board as team manager and Josh ‘Bryn’ Norris helping out.
Mark praised the teams and mentioned his aim for a gold medal in 2023:
The news also comes as the Global Esports Federation announces a partnership with VOV Gaming, part of Savvy Games Group, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. VOV will lead in establishing a community gaming council at the GEF through the partnership.
There’s more on Great Britain’s progress at GEG 2022 in this recap article on the British Esports website.
Last year, Great Britain won a silver medal with their Dota 2 women’s team.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
