Xian finishes 4th in MvC3, top 8 in SSF4:AE at Shadowloo Showdown

Singapore’s Kun-Xian “Xian” Ho managed a phenomenal fourth place finish in Marvel versus Capcom 3 and a top eight finish in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition at the Shadowloo Showdown 2011 tournament which concluded yesterday in Melbourne, Australia.

In MvC3, Xian’s team of Magneto, Wesker, Akuma eliminated Laiger (She-Hulk, Taskmaster, Tron and Wolverine, Dormammu, Akuma) 2-0 and DTB|Max Carnage (She-Hulk, Magneto, Sentinel) 2-0. However, Xian’s advance was stopped by Tom (Wolverine, Sentinel, Phoenix) 2-1 at the loser’s semi-finals, thus earning Xian a fourth place finish.

In SSF4, Xian’s Yun famously defeated top Japanese player Mago’s Fei Long in the pool stages, then proceeded to eliminate Japanese player MOV’s Ken 2-0 in the top 16. Xian was, however, eliminated in the top 8 round by MCZ|Tokido’s Akuma in a nail-biting 1-2 finish.

Xian’s fourth place MvC3 placing and top eight SSF4 finish at Shadowloo Showdown 2011 are probably the highest-placed finishing anybody from Singapore has achieved to date on the international stage in either game.

This year’s Shadowloo Showdown is the biggest fighting game tournament in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan and saw some of the top players from Australia, Japan, Taiwan, United States, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore compete.

With these two wins to his name, Xian himself is arguably one of the most accomplished players in the Singapore scene, having achieved a top-four finish in last year’s prestigious Tougeki Super Battle Opera King of Fighters XIII tournament.

Shadowloo Showdown’s SSF4 tournament was eventually won by Korea’s Poongko (Seth), who defeated Japan’s Momochi (Yun) very convincingly in the grand final. MvC3 was won by Japan’s MCZ|Tokido (Wolverine, Sentinel, Phoenix), while his team-mate MCZ|Mago (Amaterasu, Magneto, Sentinel) came in second. For more detailed results, visit the Shadowloo Showdown EventHubs page.

I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was present at Shadowloo Showdown 2011, so courtesy of Mun-Yung Kan, here are some photos from the event for you to enjoy: