Wesley Cwiklo Brings Home Gold for Team USA at World Cyber Games Grand Final
Posted by: Aaron Lockard on October 24, 2006 8:05:51 PM
Korea Wins overall medal count followed by Germany and Russia
WCG Grand Final flag passed to Seattle, WA, host city for WCG 2007
The Grand Final of the World Cyber Games concluded after four days of
intense gaming, with the youngest member of Team USA going undefeated
to bring home the gold in Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360. The
Grand Champion title for the World Cyber Games 2006 was awarded to Team
Korea, who reclaims the title after four years. Team Russia took second
place in the medal tally with one gold and one silver, while Team
Germany placed third with one gold and one bronze medal. Teams Canada,
China, Poland and USA won one gold medal, respectively.
Wesley
"TTR Ch0mpr" Cwiklo was crowned WCG 2006 Project Gotham Racing 3
champion after an amazing undefeated streak in Monza. At 17, Wesley is
the youngest member of Team USA and the sole medal winner for this
United States at this year's competition.
Wesley's final
opponent was also his teammate and friend, Christopher Hogfeldt of
Sweden. Both players are members of TTR, a team of Project Gotham
Racing players who have banded together on an international level for
fun, but also to challenge themselves as the best players across the
globe. Their plan worked, as the TTR team featured six of the eight top
finishers in this year's tournament.
Billy Son, captain of Team
Korea, said, "We haven't been crowned Grand Champions since 2002. This
year, we came to Monza to reclaim that title. The Korean players proved
they are the best." Yeon Sung Choi, best known by his gamer tag
"IloveOov", won the final match of StarCraft: Brood War, against
another member of his team, Sungjun Park. Their first and second place
finishes heavily contributed to Korea snagging the WCG trophy of the
Grand Champion.
Sunday's on-going final matches kept the large
audience on the edge of their seats, watching the finals play out on
large screens with Italian commentators turning up the volume.
Additional gold medals went to the winners in the following categories:
Xiao Fen Li of China, known as "SKYCN", for WarCraft III: The Frozen
Throne; the Polish Team Pentagram for Half Life: Counter Strike; and
German Daniel Schellhase for FIFA 06.
The Closing Ceremony
capped off this year's festivities, including the award presentations
to the medallists, a concert by popular Italian bands and a farewell
party for players. Magda Gomez hosted the closing ceremony and total of
USD$462,000 were awarded to the medallists in 11 games including eight
official games, one special tournament and two invitational
tournaments. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the WCG flag was
handed over to Ralph Morton, Executive Director of Seattle Sports
Commission, which will host the WCG 2007 next year.
Following
the awards and under a sky illuminated by spectacular fireworks, 700
players from all over the world said goodbye to Italy and to the sixth
WCG Grand Final at the farewell party.
The World Cyber Games
drew the attention of many Italian government officials including the
participation of Filippo Penati, President of Province of Milan and the
Italian Minister of Sports, Giovanna Melandri, who declared: "WCG
represents a special occasion for Italy and Europe."
SAMSUNG
Electronics is the worldwide sponsor of World Cyber Games. Microsoft
Xbox and AMD joined as the premier sponsors of WCG 2006 Grand Final
while ATI and SyncMaster joined as official sponsors.