ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s 23-year-old Arslan Saddique – aka “Arslan Ash” – is now officially the world’s reining Tekken 7 champion.
Saddique defeated Jae-Min “Knee” Bae at the grand final of the 2019 Evolution Championship Series (EVO) in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on August 5th, 2019. In addition to the bragging rights of credentials putting his skillset at the very top of the fighting video game, Saddique walked away with nearly USD $14,000 in prize money.
Saddique has faced Bae, a well-known player in the international gaming community, on three different occasions. The last time was at EVO Japan where Saddique hailing from a relatively uncharted gaming world (Re: Pakistan) was applauded but mostly dismissed according to VICE’s article on his win, but to win back to back in Japan and at the more prestigious North American finals? Something that cannot be ignored.
Saddique is the first player from Pakistan to participate in the Tekken 7 leg of the EVO, and the first player from Pakistan to participate at large at EVO since 2011. He became a player of note in 2018 during the FV x SEA Major Malaysia where he finished in 9th place. Saddique plays Tekken for team VSlash a competitive e-sports team.
Saddique tweeted out about his win writing, “All thanks to Allah Almighty for making me gain success and be an evo champ. Twice consecutively,” further thanking his team and his mom.
Pakistani youth becomes world’s top Tekken 7 player
Pakistani youth becomes world’s top Tekken 7 player
- “Arslan Ash” bagged nearly $14,000 in prize money after beating Jae-Min “Knee” Bae in EVO grand final in Las Vegas
- He is the first player from Pakistan to participate in the Tekken 7 leg of Evolution Championship Series
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
