Top five finish for Team UK at Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup: ‘You did us proud, stand tall’
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Last Updated: 11/07/2023
Photo credit: Ryan Hart
The fighting game trio that formed Team UK recorded a top five finish at the recent Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup.
The event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saw 3v3 matches played between teams from 16 nations.
It featured a $1m prize pool for the FGC (fighting game community) and took place between July 6th and 9th 2023.
Team UK included British players K-Wiss, JoKa (who finished runner-up at VSFighting last year) and Gosain.
“It was a dream come true to be able to compete alongside my friends and I hope I can experience something close to it again. Until next time.”
JoKa, Team UK at Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup
Team UK finished top of Group D with two wins and one loss, before losing 2-1 to eventual champions Pakistan 2-1.
In the lower bracket, they were knocked out by Japan 3-0. The result meant Team UK finished 5th-6th, alongside France, with both teams each taking home $40,000.
Team Pakistan went on to beat South Korea in the final, 3-1, giving them a huge $500,000 in winnings, with South Korea taking home $200,000.
Other UK talent at the event included host Hassan ‘Spag’ Farooq, and Mario ‘Rookang’ Tufinio who commentated on the B-stream.
‘I lived out multiple dreams’ – reaction to Tekken Gamers8 tournament
British fighting games legend Ryan Hart said to Team UK: “You did us proud! Stand tall fellas.”
You did us proud! Stand tall fellas 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧@byJoka @KungFuKobi @Gosain__#LandOfHeroes #Gamers8 pic.twitter.com/QNLulGdvkh
— Ryan Hart (@RyanJosephHart) July 11, 2023
British host Spag said he lived out multiple dreams at the event, in a country close to his heart:
I lived out multiple dreams at #Gamers8
— Mirage | Spag 🇵🇸 (@SpaghettiRip) July 10, 2023
I worked on the biggest Tekken event in a country close to my heart 🇸🇦
I saw my friends witness the beauty of the middle east.
I worked alongside legends and got to commentate Pakistan vs Korea
I'm grateful for it all. Thank you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8riNLcrMX2
Spag added: “To the Pakistani fans: Remember to always be graceful in victory and defeat even if others aren’t. And support your players no matter the circumstances. Tekken is a beautiful game played around the world and the Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup has been a brilliant reminder of that.”
Rookang said:
I really appreciate the kind words @AyanoOscarr 😊
— Roo Kang (@rookang1) July 11, 2023
It was a long shift but I had such a great time commentating some world class @TEKKEN matches on the @Gamers8GG B stream 🙌 https://t.co/kogisAULas
In terms of the Team UK players themselves, Gosain said: “This was an amazing opportunity and I’m so happy to be a part of something like this. Thanks again everyone for the love and support.”
Truly grateful, Alhumdulilah always 🙏Thanks again to the #Gamers8 team, looking forward to seeing what they have planned in the future
— Mirage | Gosain (@Gosain__) July 10, 2023
K-Wiss echoed his teammate’s sentiment on the Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup:
JoKa added: “This week was such a great experience for me both inside and outside of Tekken with memories which I will always remember and be grateful for. I am more motivated than ever and will do my best to perform in the future.
“A big thank you to Gamers8 for inviting me to this event and being so accommodating the entire week. It was a dream come true to be able to compete alongside my friends and I hope I can experience something close to it again. Until next time.”
JoKa also responded to comments about Team Japan allegedly ‘icing’ Team UK (i.e. calling for breaks during ‘hot’ periods of play that Team UK had, to cool their momentum).
I’ve been seeing a lot of people mentioning this, honestly there isn’t much we could do as a team in that situation. At the end of the day, they had a genuine issue and it needed to be fixed. https://t.co/nw20lbChCG
— Falcon JoKa (@byJoka) July 9, 2023
The Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup is one of many Gamers8 esports tournaments taking place in 2023
Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup is one of several Gamers8 tournaments taking place in Saudi Arabia this year, as the region continues to increase its focus on esports with high-prize-pool events.
A $2m Fortnite event has also just taken place, won by Polish players Japko and Kami, and there are CSGO, Rocket League and Rainbow Six tournaments on the horizon, among others.
The Rainbow Six Siege Gamers8 tournament kicks off on July 13th, and features some UK and Irish esports broadcast talent getting involved, including host Iain Chambers and casters Demo and Xrtroika, plus analyst Fresh, and Irish casters Gibson and Whippet.
🚨R6S TALENT REVEAL🚨
— Esports World Cup (@EWC_EN) July 10, 2023
Please welcome our amazing talent for R6!
🟢Hosts🟢@iainchambers ▫️ @Giniiiro
⚪️Casters⚪️@blucasts ▫️ @Stoax ▫️ @XRTROIKA ▫️ @DemoCasts ▫️ @GibsonCasts ▫️ @WhiPPetCasts
🟢Analysts🟢@FreshOnDesk ▫️ @FastAnne_ ▫️ @JesseJChick#Gamers8 #TheLandOfHeroes pic.twitter.com/opICD2Ehe0
Related article: Last year, Moist Esports declined to play in a Saudi Rocket League LAN
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. 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 also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.
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