Saiful Islam from Bangladesh qualifies for official Street Fighter 6 tournament

M Saiful Islam Anik, an e-sports player from Bangladesh, has qualified for the main stage of Capcom Cup X, the official Street Fight 6 tournament held by Capcom, as the sole Bangladeshi representative. To qualify for the main stage, Anik had to win the South Asian regional finals of Capcom World Warrior Pro Tour 2023 against players from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and India.

Capcom Cup X is the final round of the over four-months-long Capcom World Warrior Pro Tour. The main stage of the competition invites winners from regional tournaments from 18 regions. This year's tournament, which will be held in Los Angeles, California from February 21 to 25, 2024, offers an overall prize pool of USD 2 million. Furthermore, the winner will receive USD 1 million, which is the highest-ever 1st place prize for a fighting game tournament yet.

Anik started playing video games in 1998 in the local arcades. Since then, he has been an avid fan of fighting games such as Street Fighter and The King of Fighters. "Street Fighter is one of the most iconic and enduring franchises in the fighting game genre," says Anik, "The latest Street Fighter game, SF 6, has better net code, more player availability, year-long competitions, a strong global community, and a bigger prize pool compared to other fighting game events."

Anik has participated in local esports tournaments hosted by Gigabyte and Asus, as well as international online tournaments such as Intel Open World, which featured Street Fighter 5. When talking about the local esports scene, Anik adds, "Many countries, including Bangladesh, have recently seen an increase and participation in esports in recent years." 

However, he believes that for the Bangladeshi esports scene to flourish, it is necessary for more active promotion of esports in the country, including government involvement and hosting more local tournaments so local players and teams can get the support they require to compete on an international level. He says, "Competing in major international esports competitions comes with a lot of factors: global audience, prestige, recognition, cultural impact, and of course, national pride in being to represent your country on the grand stage." Anik is currently studying at International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.