UK-based organisation Guild Esports have entered into Tekken 8 esports by signing Awais Liaqat as their first professional Tekken player.
Awais, who has signed a 12-month contract with Guild, is a seasoned Tekken professional has represented Pakistan at an international level.
In a successful career that has spanned over a decade, he has won a number of high-profile tournaments within Pakistan including the Go Line Tekken 7 Tournament, and has placed highly in international tournaments in Korea, Malaysia and the UAE.
Guild said they will support Awais during the qualification process of the upcoming Esports World Cup 2024.
The news follows Guild’s entry into Street Fighter in August 2023.
Guild’s executive team said they ‘saw the launch of Tekken 8 as the perfect opportunity to enter the Tekken esports ecosystem for the first time and capitalise on the increased media and esports interest following the launch’.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, commented: “We have been waiting for the right time to enter Tekken, and with the upcoming Esports World Cup and the launch of Tekken 8, now is the perfect opportunity.
“It is testament to our esports prestige that we have been able to attract a player of Awais’ calibre to Guild, and we look forward to seeing him compete in a Guild jersey.”
Guild Esports announce sim racing roster including two Brits
In other Guild news, the org have unveiled their ESL R1 roster as the first team to represent the organisation at the Esports World Cup (EWC) in July 2024.
Racers James Baldwin, Bono Huis, Marko Pejic and Matt Emery have each signed loanee contracts and will race in Guild colours in Riyadh for the highest accolade in esports.
Each of the racers have been signed on a four-month loan basis and will return to their parent organisations once this period elapses. James and Bono will return to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team and Marko and Matt will return to Veloce Esports and Racing.
Guild will be entering the Esports World Cup as a partner team, but their first ESL R1 competitive foray will begin on May 17th, with the start of the Spring Season, where 11 other teams will join them on the virtual grid. Racers will compete in the team and driver championships through to July 5th when the overall winners are crowned.
These will serve as the final preparations before the team heads to Riyadh to compete for a share of the $60m prize pool available at the EWC.
The sim racing players signed to Guild’s roster are:
- James Baldwin, the 26-year-old Brit, prolific in karting and sim racing, clinched an impressive five national karting championships after beginning his career at the tender age of eight. His motorsport exploits further extend to racing in Spa 24HR as well as the British GT Championship where he finished 4th after claiming three pole positions and a race victory on his debut. James has also enjoyed huge success in esports having won a number of prestigious championships including the Le Mans Esports Series and The eRace of Champions as well as being crowned ‘World’s Fastest Gamer’ in 2019. He has been a regular feature on sim-racing circuits having raced for both Alfa Romeo and McLaren in F1 Esports and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team in the inaugural season of ESL R1
- Bono Huis, the 30-year-old Dutch is a dominant figure in sim racing, boasting an impressive track record with five Formula Sim Racing championships, including wins in the Formula E 2017 Vegas eRace Championship and the Formula Pro 2021 Championship. Last year, he competed in ESL R1 with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team with strong entries in the Le Mans Virtual and emerging victorious in the V10-R League – Season 3.
- Marko Pejic, the 25-year-old German is a seasoned top-tier sim racer and has already left an indelible mark on competitive virtual racing. Noteworthy achievements include his performance in the Lamborghini eSports – The Real Race 2020, clinching victories in DTM Esports and ADAC GT Masters Esports races, securing the Formula Pro 2021 Team Championship, alongside appearances in the finals of PECCD 2020 and the German Raceroom Championship. Marko’s presence in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team in 2021 took them to victory in the Formula Pro campaign where they won the Constructors’ Championship.
- Matt Emery, the 22-year-old Brit newcomer has shown a lot of potential that makes him a top contender for ESL R1 race wins. He’s established himself as one of the top drivers on iRacing and across sim racing with a victory at the IWC iRacing Esports Fastest Lap Challenge Championship in 2022 and a third-place finish in the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB in 2023
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, said: “I’m ecstatic to welcome James, Bono, Marko and Matt to the Guild fold and can’t wait to see the performances they pull out as the season progresses. With guidance from our elite coaches and access to the state of the art facilities at the Sky Guild Gaming Centre there’s no limit to the heights they can reach.
“Each of them have already achieved so much in their careers to date and we’re excited to walk with them in the next steps of their journey as our attentions turn towards the Esports World Cup.”
Guild also have a Guild Sim School sim racing facility.
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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.
