Taiwanese e-sports player Lin “E.T.” Chia-hung (林家弘) on Sunday unseated the defending champion in the Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan) The King of Fighters XV grand final, placing first out of more than 450 entrants.
Lin lost the first best-of-five round 2-3 against China’s Zheng “Xiaohai” Zhujun (曾卓君), a three-time EVO champion, before rallying to win the second round 3-2.
Lin advanced to the grand final after winning two rounds on Sunday, meaning he could lose one round and still win. He took home ￥1 million (US$6,419) in prize money.
Photo: screen grab from EVO Japan’s X account
“Finally, not another runner-up,” Lin said. “I have rarely won top-tier events since 2017 and have been runner-up several times, so this means a lot to me.”
Lin’s best performance at a top-tier event featuring The King of Fighters XV was when he placed second after losing to Zheng at the EVO final in August last year.
Lin, 39, was first exposed to video games at the age of seven and has been a pro gamer since 2013, according to e-sports database Liquipedia.
In an interview last month, Lin said that his family had not supported his gaming career and that he had worked several jobs, including as a property agent and convenience store staffer, to fund his craft.
It was not until he won The King of Fighters XIV event in 2017 that his family started backing his career choice, he said.
Now a full-time pro gamer, Lin streams while training for five hours per day.
Last month, Lin expressed his disappointment with the lack of investment in the industry in Taiwan.
“I think even winning a championship will not change things much,” he said.
However, after nearly three decades, he said his passion for The King of Fighters has never wavered, regardless of how challenging the circumstances have been.
On Sunday, Lin said that winning the EVO Japan title proved that he could still break through even though he is turning 40 in November.
It has given him the confidence to continue fighting, he added.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS